


Queers and Walkers

by DoctorCampHogwarts



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV), QTWD, The 100 (TV), queer the walking dead
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-01
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-05-30 15:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 28,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6429820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoctorCampHogwarts/pseuds/DoctorCampHogwarts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A month after the initial outbreak of the zombie apocalypse, Alicia and her family go out on a supply run only to have Alicia get separated and nearly killed by walkers. Elyza has been making it well on her own so far and would like to keep it that way, but she could never resist helping a pretty girl in trouble.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Alicia woke up with a slight groan. She reached up and cradled her throbbing head in her hands as she sat up. She slowly opened her eyes, thankful for the semidarkness that greeted her. She silently scanned the room around her, searching for a clue to remind her how she’d gotten there. She quickly caught sight of her backpack. It had been carelessly thrown into the corner of the room alongside a wooden baseball bat.

When her eyes landed on the baseball bat, the events from the previous night came rushing back. She and some of the other people from her group had been on a supply run when they had been separated by another group of survivors. Some of them had chased her into the abandoned building she was currently sitting in and had knocked her out with the baseball bat. Alicia felt lucky that they hadn’t killed her and that no walkers had come for her while she had been out.

As soon as she thought that, a low growl sounded from a little ways away from the door of the room she was in. She froze, straining to hear any other sound. The shuffling sound of a walker’s tread quickly reached her ears, approaching fast.

“Shit,” she breathed.

Alicia jumped up as quietly as she could and nearly collapsed. Her head throbbed painfully and a flash of a blonde woman swam in her vision. She shook her head slightly, massaging her temples, before darting forward and grabbing her backpack. She grumbled slightly as she felt how much lighter her backpack was then before. The thought quickly dispelled as the sound of another walker joined the first. Slinging her backpack on her shoulder, she ran to the window, opening it and climbing through just as the walkers appeared in the doorway. She fell from the first story window with a slight thud, scrambling up as fast as she could. She immediately turned right, toward the alley opening, to be met by a small horde of walkers shambling toward her.

“Shit,” she cursed, turning and running left, deeper into the alley.

She quickly reached a fork in the alley and turned right, hoping to find another opening that would lead to the street. Instead, she found a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. She immediately turned around and started forward just as the horde of walkers turned the corner. Alicia stepped back slightly, cursing the fact that she didn’t have a weapon and cursing the fact that she wouldn’t know what to do with one even if she had one, when she tripped over something and fell backwards. Scrambling on her hands and knees, she continued to retreat from the walkers until her back hit the chain link fence.

Her eyes widened in horror as she realized that she was going to die. She was going to be killed by a horde of walkers. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping it would be fast and that the rest of her family would be okay.

Before she could get painfully killed by walkers, a voice suddenly rang out from above her.

“Oi! Watch it!”

Alicia’s head snapped up to see a blur of black leather and blonde hair jump down from the fire escape of the building next to her. Before she could fully register what was happening, the blur had landed next to her and taken the shape of a young woman probably around her own age.

Alicia’s mouth dropped open slightly as she took in the other girl standing in front of her. Not only had the girl just fallen from the sky, but she was absolutely stunning. She wore nothing but black, all the way from her black leather jacket to her black combat boots. Her blonde hair fell in light waves down her back. She was also bristling with with weapons. She had a shotgun in her hands and a machete strapped to her back. A holster at her hip and another on her thigh held a handgun each and Alicia could count half a dozen knives hanging from her belt and that was only the part of the girl that she could see.

Alicia took it all in in a split second before looking up to see the girl looking at her over her shoulder. Alicia inhaled slightly at the sight of the girl’s bright blue eyes and black war paint.

“Don’t worry, cutie,” the girl said with an Australian accent, winking at her before turning to face the oncoming horde of walkers. “I’ve got this.”

Before Alicia could respond, two blasts rang through the alley as the girl blasted the heads off two of the walkers with her shotgun. Without a second's hesitation, the girl then whipped out two handguns and emptied the clips into the oncoming walkers. The alley was soon littered with doubly dead bodies. Alicia stared at the pile of bodies in shock as the girl reloaded and slipped her guns back in their holsters. She quickly crouched in front of Alicia, dragging her attention from the pile of bodies in front of her.

“Thanks,” Alicia said.

The girl smirked. “You really expect me to waste a pretty face like yours?”

Alicia blushed. The girl’s smirk just got deeper.

“Come on,” the girl said, getting up and offering her hand to Alicia. She took it and the girl helped her to her feet. “Those gunshots would have alerted every walker for miles where we are. We need to get out of here. My ride is this way.”

The girl started to walk away, leading Alicia down the left fork of the alley and out onto the street.

The girl immediately walked over to a black Harley that sat parked in front of the building Alicia had woken up in. She swung her leg over the saddle and straddled the bike, turning the key in the ignition. Alicia was surprised at how quiet the bike was compared to other Harleys she had seen.

The girl looked back to where Alicia still stood near the mouth of the alley.

“Well come on,” she urged. “I promise I don’t bite.” She cocked her eyebrow suggestively. “Unless you’re into that sort of thing.”

Alicia blushed slightly and rolled her eyes as she walked over to the bike.

“I guess you’ll have to find out,” she quipped, hopping on the bike and wrapping her hands around the other girl’s waist so as not to fall off.

The girl laughed loudly. Alicia smirked slightly at the sound. She couldn’t wait to hear it again.

“I look forward to it, cutie,” the girl said, gunning the engine and speeding off, away from the oncoming walkers.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I kinda just meant for this to be one chapter, but then I got a excited. So, here's a second chapter.

“So, do you have a name, or can I keep calling you cutie?” the girl said over her shoulder after a few minutes of driving.

“Cutie’s fine,” Alicia responded without thinking. She blushed slightly, glad that the girl couldn’t see her.

“Well then, cutie,” the girl said. Alicia could hear more than see the smirk playing on the girl’s lips. “I’m Elyza Lex.”

Alicia snorted. “That’s got to be made up,” she scoffed.

“Oh really?” Elyza countered. “I’d like to see you do better.”

“Alicia,” she answered, jutting her chin forward challengingly. “Alicia Clark.”

A sudden flash of the same blonde woman as before crossed her mind before disappearing just as quickly. Alicia shook her head slightly before listening to what Elyza was saying to her.

“-anywhere I can take you?” Elyza finished.

“My family set up a rendezvous point if any of us got separated,” Alicia answered.

Elyza nodded. “Where was it?”

“By the river.”

Elyza glanced over at the sun before saying anything. “It’s going to be dark soon and the river is all the way across town. I have a place not far from here. We could bunk there for the night and then I’ll take you to your family in the mornin’.”

Alicia nodded before Elyza took a quick turn and started to ride into an older part of town.

\-----

After three minutes and that many decapitated walkers later, they pulled up in front of an old apartment complex. They quickly dismounted and made their way inside the building as the sun slipped below the horizon.

“Hope you don’t mind stairs,” Elyza said over her shoulder and leading them toward a flight of stairs. “The lift didn’t work even before the world went to shite.”

Alicia shook her head slightly as she looked around the lobby. She could tell that even before the apocalypse, it hadn’t been the best place to live. Her family had never been made of money, but the building around her made her infinitely more grateful for what they had had.

“After you, princess,” Elyza said, opening the door to the stairwell and gesturing inside with a sweep of her hand.

“Alicia,” she corrected, walking past Elyza and starting to ascend the stairs.

She could feel Elyza’s smirk behind her. She chose to ignore it and instead focused on the steps in front of her in the dark stairwell. A light suddenly pierced the darkness as Elyza flicked on a flashlight, illuminating Alicia’s back and the wall in front of her.

“Alicia Clark. I know,” Elyza said after the stairwell was illuminated. Alicia barely suppressed a shiver at the sound of her name. There was a familiarity to the way Elyza clicked the k in her last name that Alicia couldn’t place. “But the way you blush when I call you nicknames is adorable, cutie. I just can’t resist.”

Alicia ducked her head, hiding the flush that crept over her face. She could feel Elyza’s smirk getting bigger.

“This is our stop,” Elyza said as they reached the third floor landing.

“I don’t know which apartment it is,” Alicia pointed out, turning slightly and shouldering open the door. She heard Elyza click off the flashlight as the remaining sunlight filtered down the hall and into the stairwell.

“307,” Elyza supplied.

Alicia turned all the way around, waiting for Elyza to walk past her. The other girl didn’t look up fast enough to hide what she had been doing.

“Were you checking out my ass?” Alicia asked incredulously, trying hard not to feel flattered.

“Are you sitting on an F5 key?” Elyza asked, shouldering past Alicia and walking down the hall. She looked over her shoulder at Alicia before smirking and winking. “Cause your ass is refreshing.”

“Elyza? Are you a software update?” Alicia retorted, walking after Elyza. “Because not right now.”

“So, later?” Elyza asked, stopping in front of apartment 307 and turning to look at her with a smirk.

Alicia groaned and rolled her eyes. Of course she had to be stuck with the most ridiculous person stuck alive on the planet.

Elyza chuckled lowly before opening the door and leading Alicia inside. They stepped inside a dimly lit, sparsely furnished apartment. Alicia stood in the doorway and took in the room in front of her. A small living room was off to her right, furnished with only an old, lumpy couch, a worn coffee table, a TV, and a shelf full of books and DVDs. Elyza immediately headed into the kitchen, which only held a card table and two mismatched chairs. A doorway led off from the living room. Alicia guessed that that’s where the bedroom was.

“Is it safe?” Alicia asked, looking back to where Elyza was rummaging in the cupboards.

“I cleared all the floors earlier,” Elyza said, pulling some things out of cupboards. She turned and threw something at Alicia. “Here. Catch.”

Alicia flinched and nearly dropped the bag of chips that came flying at her head. “Hey!” she exclaimed indignantly.

Elyza just shrugged and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs before putting her boot clad feet up on the table. She ripped open her bag of chips and started to eat, staring at Alicia. Alicia just sent a glare her way before pulling the other chair out and sitting down to eat her own chips. She scowled slightly at the fact that they weren’t gluten free, but she had grudgingly accepted a while ago that she had to eat what she could now that the world had ended. That didn’t mean she had to like it though.

Her thoughts quickly turned to her family. They were messed up and dysfunctional, but they were her family and she had to get back to them. She thought about her brother and her mother and how worried her mother would be, both for her and for Nick. She knew Nick would be more worried about finding more drugs than worried about her.

“When can we go find my family?” Alicia asked, finally breaking the silence that had descended upon them.

“We’ll leave at dawn,” Elyza answered readily. “In the meantime, it’s best if you get some shut eye.”  
She got up and walked over to the fridge, pulling out two bottles of water. Alicia could see that it was practically bursting at the seams with water bottles and a few whiskey bottles.

Elyza slid one of the water bottles across the table to Alicia before opening her own water bottle and taking a long pull from it.

“There’s a bedroom through there,” Elyza said when she was done drinking, motioning toward the doorway heading off of the living room. “Take your pick of bed. And I’m sure we can find a clean shirt for you to change into.”

Alicia looked down, noticing for the first time that her shirt was covered in drops of blood and other matter that she didn’t want to think about. She thanked god that none of it had gotten on her favorite flannel.

She nodded her thanks before getting up and going into the bedroom. It was as sparsely furnished as the other rooms. There were two beds, each pushed into different corners of the room with a nightstand between them. A suitcase sat under the left bed. The closet door stood slightly ajar right next to her and the door right next to that led to, what she assumed, was the bathroom.

Alicia immediately turned toward the closet in search of a shirt to wear, quickly finding a light grey tank top. She decided the minor grease stain smeared across the front was better than the splatter of blood and brain matter on her own shirt and quickly started to change.

As soon as she was done changing, she stepped back outside the room to find Elyza standing by one of the living room windows overlooking the alley next to the building. She turned as Alicia approached.

“Will you be taking the other bed?” Alicia asked, trying to be polite for once.

“Why? Would you rather we shared?” Elyza asked, quirking her eyebrows suggestively.

“No,” Alicia immediately replied, blushing slightly.

“Too bad,” Elyza said, shaking her head slightly. “I always enjoy being the big spoon.”

Alicia raised her eyebrow skeptically, crossing her arms in front of her. “Oh really?” she asked sarcastically. “And what makes you think you would be the big spoon?”

“My natural wit and charm, of course,” Elyza answered.

“Your natural wit and charm, huh?” Alicia challenged, quirking her eyebrow. “Because that’s what you’re going to use to get me into and keep me in bed?”

“Well,” Elyza started, taking a slight step toward Alicia. “If I said you have a great body, would you hold it against me?”

Alicia huffed and rolled her eyes. She turned around, knowing she wouldn’t win this time. Next time though.

“I guess we’ll have to find out some other time. For now, I’m going to bed,” she announced, walking back to the bedroom.

Elyza chuckled. “I’ll knock you up when it’s time to go.”

Alicia spun around and looked at Elyza in disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“You know,” Elyza replied, a twinkle in her blue eyes and a smirk on her lips. “Wake you up.” She mimicked knocking on a door.

Alicia stared at her for a second before spinning around and walking into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. She could hear Elyza chuckle as she walked over to the bed and laid down to go to sleep.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's ready for Fear the Walking Dead tonight? Cause I'm pumped. In the mean time, here's another chapter. I hope you like it.

Elyza sat in front of the window in the living room. Her leather jacket hung on the back of the chair she was sitting on, leaving her in just her black tank top. Her gun lay in pieces in front of her on the card table she had dragged over after Alicia had gone to bed. She methodically cleaned each piece before setting it back in it’s place.

Elyza focused on her task as she finished cleaning her gun. She quickly reassembled it and slid a bullet into the chamber before loading nine bullets into the magazine and slipping it into the gun. She breathed in slightly at the familiar click of the magazine locking into place.

She sat for a second, looking at the gun before slipping the .9mm Glock into it’s holster at her hip. She then grabbed her shotgun and started to slowly and methodically clean that as well.

Her thoughts swiftly turned to the girl currently sleeping in the other room. She frowned slightly as she continued to clean the barrel of her shotgun. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure why she had saved Alicia. Elyza had spent her whole life learning that it was better to stick it out on her own. Helping people and letting people in just led to hurt and trouble. It was a lesson that had served her well all her life and had served her even better since the world had gone to hell. But for some reason, she had helped Alicia and she was planning to keep helping her.

Elyza glanced over to the door that led to the bedroom. Something about Alicia felt familiar. As if she had known her before. As if she had known her forever.

She shook her head at the thought. There was no way it was possible. She had barely known the girl for a few hours. Elyza wasn’t heartless, but she didn’t make a habit of saving people. But something had drawn Elyza to Alicia and she wasn’t sure what it was. She paused for a second, picturing the brunette in her head, and smiling. It did help that Alicia was absolutely gorgeous. Elyza had always been a sucker for beautiful brunettes.

A sudden whimper from the bedroom cut off Elyza’s train of thought. She was halfway out of her chair, her hand on the hilt of her machete, before realizing that the other girl was just having a nightmare. She debated for a second about whether to wake the girl, but quickly thought better of it. As long as the brunette didn’t make too much noise and bring the dead, Elyza figured that they would be fine.

She sat back down and continued to clean her shotgun, her concern for Alicia not entirely dissipating. Elyza was not a stranger to nightmares and knew how difficult they could be. She also knew how difficult it was to be woken up from a nightmare and have a stranger hovering over you, so she continued to sit by the window and clean her shotgun.

After a few more minutes and a few more slightly tortured sounds from the bedroom, Elyza finished cleaning her shotgun. She quickly set it off to the side, locked and loaded and within arm's reach, before starting to disassemble the other handgun she had used that afternoon.

The light tread of trainers along the carpet alerted Elyza to Alicia’s presence just as she finished taking the gun apart. Wordlessly, Alicia grabbed the other chair from the kitchen and brought it over to sit across the table from Elyza. She silently tucked her legs up to her chest and watched Elyza as she just as silently started to clean each piece of the handgun.

They sat like that for a while. Elyza knew better than to break the silence. She also found the other girl’s presence slightly comforting. Between the smell of gun metal and Alicia sitting across the table from her, Elyza felt more at ease than she had in a long time.

“Why’d you carry so many guns if you know they’ll draw more walkers to you?” Alicia asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Sometimes there’s too many walkers to fight off with just a blade,” Elyza explained, not looking up from the piece she was cleaning. “Sometimes the people you’re shooting at have a gun too. And sometimes you’ve just got to do something to relieve the boredom.”

Elyza looked up at Alicia slightly and shot her a cocky grin. Alicia just raised an eyebrow skeptically.

“Do you clean them after every use?” Alicia asked, jutting her chin toward the gun Elyza had just finished cleaning.

Elyza nodded as she started to reassemble the gun.

“Why?”

“Gotta keep it clean so it doesn’t jam,” Elyza explained. “The last thing you want to have happen is to have your weapon jam in the middle of fight.”

Silence fell over the pair as Elyza loaded the magazine and locked it into place with a resounding click. She silently hefted it in her hand for a few moments before slipping it into it’s holster. She immediately grabbed a duffle bag and started to fill it with weapons, food and other essentials.

“Will you teach me?”

Elyza froze slightly and turned toward the other girl. “To fight?”

Alicia nodded resolutely, holding her piercing blue gaze. Elyza could see the fiery determination in the other girl’s forest green eyes. She was a fighter. Elyza knew that, with a little help, Alicia could excel at surviving the end of the world. She could survive anything.

Elyza nodded once. “I’ll teach you.” She quickly turned back to her packing. “In the meantime, we’ve got about an hour until dawn. You should probably try and get some more sleep.”

Alicia nodded slightly before getting up and walking toward the bedroom. She stopped right inside the doorway. “Thank you,” she said.

Elyza nodded without looking up from her duffel bag. She still wasn’t one hundred percent sure why she was doing this, but she knew she would do anything for the other girl.

Elyza opened her mouth to say something, but before she could release any sound, a noise sounded from the main hallway of the building. Both girls froze and quickly turned to look at the front door of the flat.

They stood like that until another noise sounded from the hallway.

“Shite,” Elyza cursed, spinning around and starting to toss things into her duffel as fast and as quietly as she could. She had thought they would be safe until the morning, but things had just taken a bad turn.

“What’s happening?” Alicia pressed, dodging out of the way as Elyza darted past her and into the bedroom.

Elyza ran toward the closet and grabbed a handful of clothing. She didn’t pay attention to who’s she grabbed or how clean it was. There were more important things to focus on. She dashed toward her bed and pulled her suitcase from underneath it. She quickly grabbed the two books laying on the top of the suitcase and the baseball bat that was hidden deeper under the bed before running back out of the bedroom and answering Alicia’s question.

“Walkers,” she stated, shoving the baseball bat into Alicia’s hands and tossing the rest of the items into the duffel. “Not a lot of them, but we’ve got to get out of here.”

She heard Alicia gasp slightly as she threw on her leather jacket. She rushed into the kitchen, listening intently for the walkers shuffling around outside her flat.

“How?” Alicia asked, going to stand next to Elyza’s almost full duffel bag.

“Any walkers in the alley outside?” Elyza asked as she grabbed enough food and water to last them two days.

Alicia turned toward the window. “No,” she answered, shaking her head and turning back toward Elyza.

“Good,” she said, throwing the food and water in the duffle bag and zipping it closed.

A sudden loud thump rang through the flat. Alicia worriedly glanced at the door, gripping the baseball bat a little tighter in her hands. Elyza skillfully ignored the sound and shouldered past Alicia to open the window. She hefted her duffle bag onto the fire escape and then tossed Alicia’s backpack after it. She was glad she had thought to move it closer to her earlier that night. She then turned toward Alicia with a greater sense of urgency settling in her gut as the thumping on the front door continued. She had locked the door, but knew it wouldn’t hold for much longer against a determined horde of walkers. Buildings built in the bad sides of cities were never built to last.

“Go down the fire escape,” Elyza ordered, tearing Alicia’s gaze from the creaking front door. “When you reach the ground, don’t move. There doesn't seem to be any walkers down there, but I don’t want to take any chances. Aim for the head if any come at you.” Elyza grabbed the bat and lifted it slightly. Alicia nodded her understanding. Elyza immediately shoved her toward the window as gently and as urgently as possible. “Wait for me there,” Elyza said as Alicia clambered out of the window and onto the fire escape. “I’ll be down in a second and then we can make a dash for my bike and get out of here.”

“Wait!” Alicia exclaimed, stopping her before she could turn back into the flat. “What are you doing?”

“There’s one more thing I’ve got to do,” Elyza explained. She heard the front door start to splinter. “Do you trust me?”

Blue eyes held green for a moment before, to Elyza’s surprise and relief, Alicia nodded. She nodded back before both girls spun around; one climbing down the fire escape and the other making a mad dash into the kitchen of her flat as the walkers broke her front door down.

Elyza jumped over the kitchen counter and grabbed the black permanent marker sitting there before writing a hasty note onto the refrigerator door.

“Going to the river. Be back soon,” the note read, signed with a quick ‘EL’ before Elyza turned around and found ten walkers shuffling toward her.

She immediately tossed the marker away before grabbing her trusty hunting knife from its scabbard and running at the walkers. She quickly stabbed the nearest walker in the eye before shoving his body into the crowd of other walkers and knocking two of them over. The knife easily slid out of the walker’s head before she turned and plunged it hilt deep into another walker’s eye. She jerked her knife out of the walker, leaving her way to the window relatively clear. She made a break for it, diving through the window as walkers scrabbled at her ankles.

She grabbed her duffle bag and threw it over her shoulders as she started descending the stairs of the fire escape.

She scanned the ground below her, looking for a sign of where Alicia was.

Elyza quickly caught sight of her trying to fend off a walker. The brunette was doing an admirable job, but Elyza knew she had to get down there fast.

She immediately jumped over the last flight of stairs before sliding down the ladder with her knife still in her hand. The second her boots hit the ground, Elyza stabbed with all her might into the walker’s ear. The walker immediately stopped trying to get at Alicia and slumped to the ground. Elyza pulled her knife out of the walker’s head, letting gravity do most of the work.

Elyza glanced at the body to make sure it stayed down before turning back toward Alicia, absentmindedly wiping her knife off on her pant leg.

“Someone sure wanted a taste of you,” Elyza remarked. She gave Alicia an appraising look, raking her eyes over her body, both checking for any bite marks or other injuries and just checking her out in general. Her eyes flickered to Alicia’s before saying, “Not that I don’t blame them, but they’ll have to get in line.”

Elyza smirked at the blush that crept over Alicia’s cheeks that couldn’t be hidden no matter how hard she rolled her eyes.  
“It’s going to be a long wait,” Alicia said. “I’m not open for business yet.”  
Elyza smirked at her, her expression mostly serious. She understood the underlying double meaning of Alicia’s words. “Then it’s a good thing I brought my camping chair,” Elyza replied.

A loud growl suddenly reminded Elyza of the danger they were still in as she looked up to see a bunch of walkers grasping and clawing at the air outside her window.

“Come on,” Elyza said, grabbing Alicia’s hand and starting to drag her toward the front of the building where her motorbike was still parked. Elyza smiled slightly at the realization that Alicia’s hand seemed to fit perfectly within her own. “Let’s get out of here. I’ve got a place not far from here that we can hole up in until the sun comes up.”


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the wait between chapters. I meant to update this on the 15th and am planning to keep to that five days between update thing, but life happened so I'm probably going to post tomorrow too to make up for it. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

They made it to Elyza’s other place with minor incident.

Elyza scowled down at her blood covered leather jacket as she led Alicia into the dimly lit shop they had parked next to.

“I got blood on my jacket,” Elyza whined, closing the door behind them.

Alicia paused her study of the room to roll her eyes at Elyza for the upteenth time since they had gotten caught between two groups of walkers and Elyza had had to fight their way out. Alicia had felt useless and didn’t need the constant reminder that she hadn’t been able to do anything to help.

“So’s the rest of you,” Alicia grumbled. She had barely been able to hold onto Elyza’s jacket and not get blood on herself during the whole ride over.

She started to pull out her phone to listen to some music. Anything to drown out the complaints of her companion. She turned to give Elyza an appraising look.

She was covered from head to toe in blood and other bodily fluids. Blood ran down Elyza’s jacket in thick rivulets and her hair was covered in blood and chunks of flesh clung to it, matting it together. Her black pants were stained darker in spots and her boots had dried splatters of blood on them. Her war paint was smudged and had started to come off.

“You need a shower,” Alicia commented, popping one of her earbuds in.

Elyza scowled at her before smirking slightly. “Come join me?” she asked. “Gotta save water and the world and all that.”

Alicia laughed lightly and shook her head. “Definitely not. You need all the water you can get.”

She smiled at the pout on Elyza’s lips before popping her other earbud in and watching Elyza swagger into the back of the shop.

Alicia looked down at her phone and scrolled through her music library before finding the song she wanted and clicking on it. The tune filtered into her ears as she slipped the phone back into her pocket. She hoped they would be able to get back to her family soon. If not for her mother’s sake, then for her own. Her phone battery was below 30% and she knew she wouldn’t be able to survive long if her phone died and she wasn’t able to listen to her music. It was the only thing that reminded her of the world before the apocalypse and it helped keep her sane.

She quickly turned to finish her study of the room before she could grow too nostalgic. Dwelling on the past wasn’t going to help anything.

Alicia turned on the spot, taking in what was obviously a tattoo parlor. Sketches and graphics covered the walls like wallpaper. They also covered the windows, letting barely any sunlight into the room even though it was midmorning. A low shelf ran along the left wall and was covered in binders of sample tattoos. Stools were tucked under the shelf for people to sit and browse. A small desk and cash register sat to the right of the door Elyza had walked through earlier.

Alicia decided to kill time and look at the sample tattoos. She silently walked over and flipped open one of the binders that were sitting on the shelf.

The binder was full of sketches of flowers. Some of them were solitary, but others were large bouquets of all different kinds of flowers. Color seemed to explode off each page, bringing each sketch to life. They seemed so real and took Alicia’s breath away with each turn of the page. She spent minutes that felt like hours studying the sketches of roses and daffodils and lupins and tulips and daisies and every other kind of flower she knew and loads more that she didn’t.

When she was done, she sat and stared at the binder in awe. Whoever had drawn the flowers had been extremely talented. She would have loved to have met the person who had drawn them. It saddened her that art like that was dead now, what with the undead walking around. There was no one left to appreciate any of the beauty. Her thoughts turned to Matt, thinking that there was not one left to create the beauty either.

Alicia quickly slid another binder toward her before she could think more about Matt. In the month they had spent surviving, she had found time to mourn and move on, but thinking about him still stung.  
This time, the binder was full of animals. Some had been digitally created, but others were sketches very similar to the flowers she had just been looking at. She paused at each and every sketch, taking in the breathtaking beauty of each animal.

About halfway through the binder, a sudden loud buzz cut through the air, loud enough to be heard over the music still pouring into her ears.

She jolted upright and yanked out her earbuds, nearly knocking over the stool she had been sitting on. The second she figured out where the noise was coming from, she grabbed her baseball bat and ran toward the back room where Elyza was. There was no way she was going to let the blonde die.

Without a second thought, Alicia barged in, bat raised, expecting to find Elyza being attacked by a walker or something equally as dangerous and deadly. Instead, she found a clean Elyza sitting in a chair in the middle of the room with a needle connected to a small generator in her hand. Her head snapped up in surprise at Alicia’s entrance. The scene seemed frozen for a second as the two girls took each other in; Elyza, sitting on the chair with her mouth hanging slightly open and Alicia, standing in the doorway with the bat raised in preparation to crush a walker’s skull in.

The second Alicia realized there was no imminent danger, she dropped the bat and glared at Elyza. “What the hell are you doing?” she hissed angrily. She tried not to get distracted by the beautiful blue color of Elyza’s eyes. They seemed to take on a different hue without the war paint covering her face.

“Finishing up my tattoo,” Elyza explained, motioning toward the now partly colored in tattoo on her wrist as if that were obvious.

“And bringing every walker in the surrounding area down on top of us?” Alicia half shouted, trying not to make too much noise and make the situation worse.

Her anger deepened even more as Elyza tried to keep in a laugh while answering. “Don’t worry about it, princess,” she assured, a shit eating grin splitting her face. “The whole shop is sound proofed. Had to after we got a bunch of complaints from the neighbors. Nobody outside can hear anything that’s going on in here.”

Alicia took a split second to process the information before dropping the baseball bat and advancing on Elyza.

“Good!” Alicia shouted, stalking over to where Elyza was sitting. She watched Elyza’s eyes widen in shock and felt a slight pull of satisfaction as she raised her hand and smacked Elyza upside the head hard enough to get her point across, but not enough to severely damage the blonde. She vaguely heard the tattoo gun clatter to the floor before Elyza brought her arms up to protect herself from any other blows.

“What the fucking hell were you thinking?!” Alicia shouted, standing over Elyza. The blonde continued to hold her hands up in defense as Alicia continued yelling even though she had stopped hitting her. “I’m going to kill you! I thought you were being killed! I thought I was going to have to come in and save your fine ass! Or lose you to a walker! You don’t just do that to a person! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

She breathed deeply after she stopped shouting, trying to control her anger. Elyza lowered her arms the second she stopped yelling. She turned toward Alicia with an even bigger shit eating grin on her face than before.

“You think I have a fine ass,” Elyza answered, a slight teasing tone in her voice.

Alicia stared at Elyza in disbelief for a second, her mouth hanging open slightly, before her anger came rushing back full force. She snapped her mouth closed and brought her hand up again.

“You! Are! Un! Mother! Fucking! Believable!” she shouted, punctuating each sentence with a harsh whack to Elyza’s arms and head.

As soon as she was done, Alicia spun around and stormed out of the back room. She could hear Elyza scrambling after her.

“Wait. Come on. Don’t be like that, Alicia,” Elyza pleaded, following Alicia out into the front room. Alicia could detect the slight laughter still in Elyza’s voice and kept her back to her as she approached. She had never been this angry before. Even after every time Nick had shown up high or her mom had told them about Travis, and she breathed deeply to try and get it under control.

“If I had known you’d be this upset, I would have told you,” Elyza continued, standing right behind Alicia. “I was actually going to tell you, but you seemed really engrossed in the sample binders and I didn’t want to interrupt. Please don’t be mad.” Elyza paused to let Alicia say something. She could slowly feel her anger starting to ebb away, but remained silent, so Elyza continued to talk. “Okay. I’m going to go finish up. You can come watch if you want.”

Alicia stood still for a few moments, trying hard to resist the temptation of the offer. After a few moments, she spun around toward Elyza. The blonde looked at her with slight trepidation. It was quickly chased away and replaced by relief as Alicia motioned silently toward the back room.

Alicia followed as Elyza slowly walked backwards into the room and sat down in the center chair again. Alicia grabbed the only other chair in the room and dragged it over next to Elyza and flung herself into it with a scowl. Most of her anger had melted away, but she wasn’t going to give Elyza the satisfaction of knowing that. She found she couldn’t stay mad at the blonde for long. Especially since she hadn’t actually been in danger.

Elyza looked at her cautiously before starting up the needle again. Alicia’s scowl deepened at the sound, but she didn’t say anything as Elyza lowered the needle to her skin to finish coloring her tattoo.

After about five minutes, Alicia found her anger melting away completely. She slowly leaned forward to get a better look at what Elyza was doing. What had once been just an outline on Elyza’s wrist was now a small bronze colored gear. Alicia stared at it wondrously as Elyza finished and turned off the tattoo gun.

“What is it?” Alicia breathed, studying it in awe. It felt familiar to her, but she knew she had never seen any gear like it before.

“It’s a decorative gear,” Elyza answered.

“It’s beautiful,” Alicia complemented.

Elyza nodded in agreeance.

They continued to admire the tattoo for a few more minutes before Elyza shifted slightly.

“We should get going,” Elyza suggested, getting up and walking across the room.

Alicia nodded silently as she watched Elyza grab some cling wrap and wrap it around her wrist to cover the tattoo.

“Could you give me a tattoo?” Alicia suddenly asked. She had always wanted one, but she knew her mother would never allow it. But it was the end of the world and she was old enough to make her own decisions.

Elyza turned and studied Alicia for a moment before nodding. “I can do that,” she agreed. “We’re just gonna have to find someplace with electricity because I’m not taking the generator.”

Alicia nodded as Elyza turned and started to pack the tattoo gun and ink into a case. “We have electricity,” Alicia assured, thinking of the boat on the water.

Elyza didn’t respond as she closed the case and walked over to put it in her duffle. She grabbed a package of jerky out and tore it open, offering some of it to Alicia.

“Eat up,” she ordered. “Next stop, the river and your family.”

“Thank you,” Alicia said, taking some jerky and eating it. She hoped Elyza understood she was thankful for more than just the jerky.

“You’re welcome,” Elyza replied with a slight smile before shoving the other half of the jerky into her mouth and tossing the package in the trash. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, her voice slightly muffled by the piece of jerky.

Alicia grinned and got up to grab her bat as Elyza turned and put her leather jacket on. Alicia was grateful that Elyza had been able to get cleaned up. She hadn’t enjoyed the thought of having to hold onto Elyza and her blood encrusted jacket during the motorcycle ride to the river. She had had enough of that on the ride to the tattoo parlor.

They exited the back room together. Alicia went over and picked her backpack up off the floor as Elyza went over to the door. Alicia joined her as she pulled back one of the papers covering the window to see if the coast was clear.

Elyza nodded the all clear before reaching down for the door handle.

“Wait,” Alicia gasped before darting over to the shelf against the left wall and grabbing the binder full of floral sketches.

She hurried back over to where Elyza was still standing by the door, putting the binder in her backpack as she went. She slung her backpack over her shoulders and looked up to see Elyza giving her a quizzical look.

“What?” she asked defensively, shrugging slightly. “They’re beautiful.”

Elyza looked at her, an unreadable expression on her face. After a few moments, she looked back out the window before opening the door.

“You know, in a world like this, I don’t usually condone carrying anything that isn’t absolutely necessary,” Elyza said, walking over to her motorcycle and strapping her duffle to the back. “But they are pretty beautiful.”

“You’re taking the tattoo stuff,” Alicia pointed out, waiting for Elyza to hop on before getting on the motorcycle herself.

“Yeah,” Elyza agreed, starting the motorcycle. Alicia could feel it purr to life under her. “But that’s for you.”

Alicia blushed and buried her face into Elyza’s back. She could feel Elyza’s chuckle reverberate through her chest as they started to head toward the river.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behold. The new chapter that was promise. I hope you enjoy it.

“So, where exactly are we heading?” Elyza asked as she drove in the general direction of the river.

“To a warehouse by the river,” Alicia responded.

“That’s specific,” Elyza said sarcastically.

Alicia glared at the back of Elyza’s head and hoped she could feel it. “It’s as specific as I can get at the moment, asshole. Once we get closer, I can show you where to go, but we need to get close first. Like, Santa Monica Freeway close.”

“Now that I can work with,” Elyza said, turning down a side street.

They rode for a while in silence. Alicia let her mind wander, looking at all the abandoned buildings they passed. They were far enough away from her home that she didn’t recognize everything, but every time she did, her heart squeezed in sadness a bit as she saw how bad things had gotten. She soon realized they were riding roughly parallel to the freeway.

“You know,” Alicia commented, looking over at the freeway as it disappeared and appeared behind buildings. “For an Aussie, you sure know your way around the city.”

Elyza shrugged slightly. “I should hope so,” she replied. “I’ve lived here for about a year.”

“Why’d you leave Australia?” she asked after a second’s contemplation.

She felt Elyza tense slightly before she responded.

“I got bored,” Elyza answered, shrugging slightly and trying to go for what Alicia knew to be nonchalance.

Alicia decided to forgo any other personal questions for the moment.

“How could you get bored of Australia?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood. “Beautiful, sunny beaches, exotic wildlife and an ocean that’s warm enough to swim in? It sounds like the dream.”

Alicia smiled as Elyza chuckled.

“You’re right,” Elyza agreed. “But the rest is sweltering desert and there’s only so many giant spiders a person can take before the exotic animal part wears off.”

“How many giant spiders did you encounter?” Alicia asked.

“Enough,” Elyza replied, shuddering in fake fear. Alicia laughed.

“So why did you choose L.A.?” Alicia asked.

Elyza looked over her shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows at Alicia. “For the hot girls, of course.”

“Any luck?” Alicia asked. She suddenly felt slightly nervous, and it had nothing to do with the two walkers they were driving by.

“A bit,” Elyza admitted, shrugging.

“Anyone special?” Alicia couldn’t tell why she was so interested in Elyza’s love life. She decided to shrug it off and figure it out later.

Elyza chuckled lowly and shook her head. “No. Nobody like that. There was one girl though. Damn was she a beaut’, but it’d never work.”

“Why not?”

“I’m broken.”

Alicia’s heart immediately went out to the girl in front of her. She could tell that that had been the most honest answer Elyza had given her about herself so far, and her heart throbbed painfully at the sadness in the other girl’s voice.

“You’re not broken, Elyza,” Alicia assured, hugging her tighter around the waist.

“You barely even know me,” Elyza said.

“Then I guess you’ll have to stick around so I can tell you again one day,” Alicia replied.

She froze slightly at the words that had just come out of her mouth. They hadn’t talked about how long they’d be accompanying each other. She was suddenly afraid that she had overstepped a line. There was also Strand and the rest of her little group and their reactions to think of. They weren’t very trusting of strangers.

“I’d like that,” Elyza finally answered.

Alicia relaxed and smiled slightly as they fell into comfortable silence.

After a few minutes, Elyza seemed to decide it was her turn to ask questions.

“So,” she started. “What about you?”

“What about me?” Alicia asked, playing dumb. She knew where this was headed and she didn’t like it one bit.

“Anyone special in your life?” the other girl asked.

Alicia tensed slightly, her thoughts immediately flicking to Matt.

She hesitated before answering the question. She barely knew Elyza. Even though she felt familiar and Alicia found her easier to get along with than anybody else she had ever met, and she had only known her for less than twenty-four hours. But she had been mostly truthful with her answers, so she decided to return the favor.

“I had a boyfriend,” Alicia answered quietly. “Before the whole world fell apart.”

“What happened to him?” Elyza asked. She sounded almost as if she already knew the answer.

“He got bitten right at the beginning,” Alicia explained. She felt tears begin to prick the corners of her eyes. She had recently gotten over the fact that he was dead, but the fact that she hadn’t been able to do anything to help still weighed her down. She tried her hardest to fight them back as she continued. “And I, I just left him. He told me to leave and I left. I shouldn’t, I should’ve stayed. I should have helped.”

She choked on her words and felt a tear start to fall down her face. She had barely broken down since it had happened. She didn’t have time. She had certainly never broken down in front of anybody else, let alone a relative stranger. She felt slightly embarrassed by the situation, but she felt too overwhelmed with sadness to pay that much attention to it.

“And then where would you be?” Elyza reasoned in a gentle tone after a while. “Somewhere eating someone’s face off. There was nothing you could have done.”

“Yes there was,” Alicia argued. “I could have stayed and helped him.”

“But you did help him,” Elyza said. “You gave him your love, and if there’s one thing that helps a person at a low point, it’s knowing that someone out there loves you.”

Alicia stayed silent, absorbing her words and drawing comfort from them. She could hear the truth and experience behind them and was grateful for them. She hoped Matt had known exactly how much she loved him.

“Thank you,” she whispered into Elyza’s shoulder.

Elyza just rubbed the back of her knuckles softly in response.

\-----

“We’re here,” Elyza said about ten minutes later.

Alicia jerked awake at the sound of her voice. She had been slipping in and out of consciousness, thoughts of Matt running through her mind, ever since they had finished talking.

She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the bright light of the afternoon sun. She recognized where they were immediately. Elyza had stopped the motorcycle at an underpass near the river. Alicia turned her head and immediately caught sight of the warehouse her family had agreed to meet in in the event of a separation.

“That one there,” Alicia said, pointing toward it over Elyza’s shoulder.

Elyza nodded and gunned the engine. Alicia was still surprised at how quiet the motorcycle beneath her was. Every motorcycle she remembered from before had been annoyingly loud.

Alicia gripped the back of Elyza’s jacket in anticipation as they neared the warehouse. Her family was a giant pain in the ass and made her angry more often than not, but she had missed them.

Sooner than Alicia expected, they pulled up next to the warehouse. Elyza parked the motorcycle in the shadows close to the front door. The dark paint of the motorcycle would hide it enough until they had to leave. They both dismounted. Alicia immediately grabbed the baseball bat off the back and Elyza pulled her machete off her back. They both crept along the side of the building toward the entrance. When they reached the corner, Elyza peeked around it before nodding the all clear. Alicia followed closely behind as they made their way to the front door.

When they reached it, Elyza started to rapidly make hand signals. Alicia just stared at her incredulously.

“What is this? Mission Impossible?” she asked quietly.

Elyza immediately began to sing the Mission Impossible theme song under her breath, loud enough for only Alicia to hear. She quietly flung open the door, dove in, and pressed herself up against the wall with exaggerated movements.

Alicia rolled her eyes as she followed her inside. “You’re ridiculous,” she whispered.

“Ridiculously attractive,” Elyza shot back.

Alicia just shook her head and rolled her eyes even harder before leading the way around the perimeter of the warehouse floor. She agreed with Elyza, but she wasn’t about to tell the other girl that.

They quickly cleared the first floor, dispatching three walkers, before making their way up to the second floor which was really only half a floor and had a few offices on it.

Worry started to gnaw at Alicia’s stomach as they opened the door of the first office and saw nothing there but regular office supplies. The worry continued to build as they cleared office after office with the same results until they reached the last one.

Elyza stood in front of the door. She sent Alicia a worried, questioning look. Alicia just nodded in response, worry and determination mixing in her stomach.

Before Alicia could change her mind, Elyza reached forward and opened the door, her machete raised to defend herself. She quickly stepped inside. Alicia following behind closely.

“They’re not here,” she breathed, taking in the empty room around them.

Elyza grabbed the closest chair and helped Alicia sit in it before she could collapse. Alicia vaguely noticed her watch her for a second before going over to the desk and rummaging through the drawers. After she was done, Elyza left the room, leaving Alicia to her thoughts.

Alicia stared at the same spot of floor in a shocked stupor. She hated her family. She wanted to strangle Nick most of the time and punch her mother a lot, but she loved them more than anything. As much as she wanted to kill them, she didn’t want them dead. She definitely didn’t want them cursed to the undead life of a walker.

Elyza walking back into the room broke Alicia out of her stupor. She looked up at Elyza with a tortured look on her face.

“What if they’re dead, Elyza?” she croaked.

Elyza immediately shook her head. “They’re not dead,” she assured.

Alicia looked at her questioningly. Elyza silently held out a pad of paper. Alicia looked at the pad cautiously before taking it and reading what was written on it. She breathed a sigh of relief as she read the note written in her mother’s familiar handwriting.

“Alicia,” the note read. “Ran into trouble. Left in a hurry. Abigail at the dock.”

Alicia looked up at Elyza a little fearfully. “This doesn’t say if anyone was hurt or dead,” Alicia pointed out.

“Then I guess we’re going to have to go find out,” Elyza responded.

Alicia nodded at the sensibility of the statement. “You’re right,” she agreed. “We’ve got to go.”

She started to head out of the room. Elyza stopped her before she could make it out the door.

“Wait,” she said. Alicia stopped and looked at her impatiently. They didn’t have time. “We don’t know how far away your family is or how much of a head start they’ve got, but we’re not going to get anywhere unless I find some fuel for my bike.”

Alicia ground her teeth in frustration slightly, but could see the truth behind what Elyza was saying. She took a second to try and get her head back to surviving. She’d be of no use to anybody if she was a walker.

“Fine,” she conceded, knowing there was no better option.

“Great,” Elyza said, smirking. “I think I saw a few bikes a few streets over. We’ll start there.”


	6. Chapter Six

After three motorcycles, lots of snarky and sarcastic quips from Alicia, twelve walkers, and no fewer than fifteen pick up lines and innuendos from Elyza, they were on their way again. They rode in silence, the last comment from Alicia making it clear she didn’t want to talk at the moment and, for once, Elyza listened. She was too worried about finding her family to talk.

Every time they had come across a walker while getting fuel, Alicia’s stomach had clenched anxiously, afraid she would see one of her family or friends shuffling toward her. Her heart clenched every time Elyza took one down, remembering that, even if it wasn’t her family or friend, it was someone else’s. Whether that person was alive to realize that their loved ones had been cursed to such a fate remained unseen, but Alicia really hoped they didn’t have to go through that.

Alicia continued to think about families and loved ones and walkers for the next half hour. After a while, her thoughts turned toward Elyza. The girl had been selflessly helping her find her family and hadn’t made any mention of her own. Alicia hoped she hadn’t had to go through the loss of a loved one to a walker. Her curiosity quickly got the best of her and she decided to ask.

“Have you lost anybody to the walkers?”

The blonde’s shoulders immediately slumped slightly. “I really hope not,” Elyza replied, a mix of emotions coloring her tone. Most of all, she sounded tired and defeated, as if the weight of not knowing was becoming too much to bear.

Alicia held onto the blonde a little tighter, trying to comfort her the best she could.

She decided that not knowing was a lot worse than being certain. At least if you had seen someone you loved die or be turned, you could start to look for closure and deal with their death. If you didn’t know what happened, you would never get that. You would always be wondering. Always looking around corners. Hoping for the best, but fearing the worst. Alicia couldn’t tell whether it would be better or worse if you weren’t even on the same continent as your loved ones.

Alicia held Elyza even closer to her, resting her cheek against the other girl’s back. She heard Elyza sigh slightly and could feel her start to rub the back of her knuckles like she had done that morning.

After a few minutes, Alicia opened her mouth to say something. She didn’t move her head from where it rested on Elyza’s back, but could feel the bike tilt beneath her slightly as Elyza turned around a bend in the river. It had taken Alicia a little bit to get used to the feeling in the beginning, but now she just took it in her stride.

Before she could say anything though, they pulled out of the bend and Elyza beat her to the punch.

“Shite.”

Alicia sat up straighter at the word. The sight she found over Elyza’s shoulder was not one she liked.

Fifty walkers were shambling in their direction about a mile away. Elyza immediately slowed. Alicia started to scan their surroundings, knowing Elyza was doing the same. What she saw didn’t help lessen the fear and worry now settling in her gut.

There were no easily accessed ways out of the canal that held the river. The last access point they had passed had been twenty minutes previously. The walkers were only on one side of the river, but Alicia could tell that the water currently in the canal was too deep for them to ride across. And a wrecked car sat on its side on their side of the river, keeping them from driving past the horde. They were trapped.

Elyza seemed to have come to the same conclusion as she started to unsheathe her machete from her back.

“Can you drive?” Elyza asked over her shoulder as they steadily got closer to the horde of walkers.

“The motorcycle?” Alicia asked, confused by the question.

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Shite,” Elyza swore. She slammed the machete back into its scabbard before grabbing one of her guns, unholstering it, and bringing it up in one fluid motion. She started to fire as she spoke again. “Hold on, cutie. This is going to be a doozy.”

Alicia gripped Elyza’s midsection in a death grip as Elyza slipped the gun back in its holster and grabbed the handlebars in determination. She suddenly hit the brakes and stuck her foot out to catch the bike as it fishtailed. Alicia yelped slightly as the back tire skidded along the ground. Without missing a beat, Elyza kicked out the kickstand, extricated herself from Alicia’s grip and dismounted in one fluid motion. Alicia stared at her in amazement, her jaw slack, as Elyza grabbed two handguns from their thigh holsters and started shooting at the approaching walkers, walking toward them all the while. The whole thing had taken less than three seconds.

Elyza quickly ran out of bullets after taking out about half of the walkers. Alicia knew there were still too many for one person to take on alone. She quickly dismounted and grabbed her baseball bat before starting forward to try and help. Before she could get very far, Elyza pulled out her machete and hunting knife and dove into the horde.

Alicia watched in amazement as Elyza passed through the group of walkers like a whirlwind. Her blade was barely out of one walker before it was buried in another. Blood and brain matter went flying as Elyza made quick work of the walkers.

Before Alicia knew it, Elyza stood in the middle of a pile of dead walkers. She stood, her chest heaving slightly, with her back to Alicia. Her blades were held down at her sides, dripping blood.

“Elyza?” she called cautiously. She knew the gunshots had alerted every walker within at least ten miles, but she didn’t want to make the situation any worse than it already was.

Elyza’s shoulders immediately relaxed, as if Alicia’s voice had been the one thing she had been waiting to hear. She slowly turned her head to look at Alicia over her shoulder, nothing else about her position moving.

“Nothing in the ‘verse can stop me,” Elyza said with a smirk.

Alicia just stared at her blankly in response, not understanding the clear reference Elyza had just made. Elyza quickly spun around, looking at her incredulously.

“Really?” she asked. “Firefly? Serenity? River Tam? Nothing?”

Alicia shook her head, not recognizing anything the blonde had said. Elyza shook her head in response and started to make her way over to where she stood.

“The second I find a DVD player that works, I’m going to have to educate you on the world that is Firefly and science fiction.”

“It’s a date,” Alicia said, grinning. She had never been a fan of sci-fi, but she was willing to try it for the girl that was making her way over to her through a pile of dead walkers.

Before Elyza could make it all the way over to her, Alicia noticed movement over her shoulder.

“Elyza!” Alicia called out a warning as she caught sight of the walker shambling into view from the behind the wrecked car and making its way over to them.

Elyza spun around, her blades raised. When she saw the single walker, she sent Alicia a cocky smirk.

“Don’t worry, princess,” she assured. “I’ve got this.”

“My hero,” she quipped sarcastically, rolling her eyes as Elyza started to swagger over to the final walker. But before Elyza could reach the walker, she stopped in her tracks as if hitting a brick wall, her smirk sliding off her face faster than Alicia thought was possible to be replaced by a look of shock.

“Bellamy,” Elyza croaked, her voice strangled. The walker continued to shuffle his way toward Elyza, oblivious of the sudden tension that filled the air.

Neither of the girls moved as the walker got closer. Alicia started to get worried as the walker got closer and Elyza just continued to stare at him in disbelief.

As suddenly as Elyza’s smirk had disappeared, a look of steely anger and determination settled over her features. She steadily wiped her blades off on her jeans before sheathing them. She silently unholstered the last loaded handgun she had on her person and pointed it at the walker with a rock steady hand, aiming right between his eyes. Then she murmured something too quiet for Alicia to hear before pulling the trigger.

The walker immediately slumped over. Elyza kept a hold on her gun as she lurched forward to catch the walker as he fell. She slowly lowered him to the ground, cradling his head in her lap. She reverently closed his eyes before leaning over and kissing his forehead.

Alicia remained where she was, watching the proceedings. They both stayed like that until a loud gunshot brought them back to reality.

Elyza quickly whispered something to the dead walker before getting up and holstering her gun and walking toward Alicia and her motorcycle.

“We need to get going,” she stated, her voice devoid of emotion. “We’re about to have company.”

“Who was that?” Alicia asked as Elyza pushed her toward the motorcycle, staring at the walker over her shoulder.

Elyza hesitated a beat before answering. “My best mate.”

“You killed your best friend?” Alicia asked incredulously as they mounted the bike.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Elyza snapped. “I’m a heartless son of a bitch.”

Alicia opened her mouth to say something, but shut it before saying anything. She could tell this wasn’t the time. Elyza had just killed her best friend and that was going to affect her in bad ways. Alicia’s stomach sank as she remembered what Elyza had said only about fifteen minutes before. “I hope not.” She immediately vowed to do anything she could to help Elyza.

Before they could do anything else but drive a little ways, a Jeep suddenly burst onto the scene behind them, crashing through a locked gate with hoops and hollers. Alicia was surprised the guys in the truck were even still alive with all the noise they were making. Her surprise lessened as she caught sight of the five machine guns the four men in the Jeep had.

Elyza immediately sped up at the sound of their pursuers right as the crack of a gun rang out. Alicia gaped as the men in the Jeep sped up to match their speed and started to take pot shots at the back tire of the motorcycle.

“They’re shooting at us,” Alicia stated incredulously. “Why the hell are they shooting at us?”

“The damn yank wankers,” Elyza spat. “Some drongos love to just go off like a bucket of prawns in the sun and make things go pear shaped just for the hell of it.”

Alicia didn’t understand a word of Elyza’s rant, but got the gist of it. She remained silent and gripped onto Elyza even tighter as the blonde started doing evasive maneuvers, braking and speeding up and swerving randomly, as bullets continued to rain down around them. Alicia thanked god that the men behind them were horrible shots.

As soon as she could, Elyza took a sudden, sharp turn and burst into the streets of the city surrounding them. Unfortunately, the men in the Jeep kept up with them, continuing to shoot at them the entire way. Alicia was sure that every walker on the west coast was now alerted to their presence.

“Where’s this dock of yours?” Elyza called over the sound of the Jeep and gunfire and wind, not looking up from the road as they took another sharp turn.

Alicia immediately started to direct her to the dock where Strand’s ship was moored, Elyza doing everything she could to lose the men behind them. Alicia couldn’t understand why they were chasing them. Most survivors didn’t trust other survivors they came upon for obvious reasons, but none of them went so far out of the way to hurt them.

“We’re a threat to them,” Elyza suddenly said as if reading Alicia’s thoughts.

“But we weren’t even doing anything to them,” Alicia pointed out. “In fact, we were helping them out by killing all those walkers.”

“You’re right,” Elyza agreed, her voice strained with the effort of trying to avoid all the bullets. “But there’s the potential that we could become a threat to their safety. We could come for their supplies. Or turn into walkers. So they’re trying to nip us in the bud so to speak.”

Alicia clenched her jaw in anger as they suddenly burst out from between some buildings and found themselves on a straight shot to the only boat that was sitting next to the dock.

The second they came into view, Alicia heard a shout come from the boat and saw the flash of binoculars as somebody passed them to somebody else. Alicia immediately began to shout and motion for whoever was on the deck to untie it from the dock. The sudden arrival of the Jeep spouting bullets behind them helped to get her message across.

“Untie the boat! Go!” Alicia yelled, waving her arms frantically. “Go! Untie the boat!”

“Tell them to clear the deck,” Elyza ordered.

Alicia relayed the message without question as the boat started to slowly pull away from the dock. She watched as they started to clear the deck, all except Strand, who stood on the deck, watching them through the binoculars as they approached.

Alicia flinched as a loud ping suddenly sounded from behind them as one of the bullets finally met its mark in the form of the back fender. She prayed to all the deities she did and didn’t believe in that that would be the only one.

They quickly reached the edge of the dock and continued down it at high speed.

“Elyza,” Alicia warned, suddenly realizing what the blonde was going to do. She was suddenly okay with facing the bullets that were coming from behind them. Elyza ignored her and continued down the deck at full speed as Strand’s boat continued to steadily pull away from the dock.

Alicia could see Strand yelling and waving frantically at them, but the sound of the wind and gunfire in her ears made it impossible to hear him. She suddenly felt a bullet sail past the motorcycle and bury itself into the side of the boat. Strand started to yell louder, his shouts now directed to the men behind her and Elyza.

Before she could make sense of what he was saying, they reached the end of the dock. Alicia’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream, expecting them to fall into the water. Instead, Elyza did something unexpected.

Elyza gunned the engine as hard as she could right before they reached the end of the dock and lifted the front of the motorcycle up in a wheelie. Alicia let out a shout as she found herself up in the air, flying over the water with nothing but the bike beneath her. She gripped Elyza in a vice like grip as the blonde worked her bike like a musician playing her instrument.

As suddenly as she had found herself in the air, Alicia found herself on a solid surface again. They landed with a thud and screech as they fishtailed for the second time that day. Alicia could hear Strand and the rest of her group shouting and yelling, adding to the cacophony of gun shots as the Jeep screeched to a halt on the dock and continued to shoot.

The second the bike touched the deck, Elyza hopped off the bike and rushed to the back where her duffle bag was strapped. She hurriedly rummaged through it before pulling out a case and unzipping it. She quickly assembled her automatic rifle and walked over to the very edge of the boat, ignoring the shouting around her and slinging the strap over her shoulder. Alicia could hear Elyza mumbling something under her breath as she brought the gun up and looked through the sight. The sound of Elyza’s rifle quickly joined that of the men on the shore as she returned fire in short, two shot bursts, purposefully missing with each shot, but hitting close enough to have them scrambling for cover.

The shouts and yells of everybody on the deck fell silent as they watched Elyza continue to return fire. Alicia got off the bike and walked to stand close behind her and to the side, watching as the men on the dock shrank into the distance.

After a few intense moments, silence fell over the deck as Elyza and the men stopped shooting. Elyza kept the gun held up to her shoulder for a second before letting it down and crossing it in front of her chest. She continued to watch the dock until it shrank from sight completely.

“Elyza,” Alicia said gently, not wanting to startle the other girl, but understanding that the people standing behind them on the deck had a lot of questions.

Elyza immediately spun around. She shot a wink at Alicia before turning toward her family and everybody else.

“I’m very sorry,” Elyza spoke. “Where are my manners? I’m Elyza Lex.”

She moved her gun to rest at her hip before extending her hand for a handshake. She took a slight step forward, but before she could complete the action, Elyza stumbled and fell.

Alicia darted forward and caught her before she could hit the deck. Alicia lowered her the the ground and cradled her head in her lap. The rest of the group remained silent as Alicia quickly checked all over the other girl for any injuries. She started to become frantic as she couldn’t find any. She started to run through a checklist of all the things they had been doing in the last twenty-four hours to see if Elyza had sustained any internal injuries. It took her only a few moments to realize that Elyza had collapsed from pure exhaustion. Elyza hadn’t slept for over twenty-four hours, ever since she had saved Alicia, and god knows for however long before that. In all that time, she hadn’t slept, and fought off over a hundred walkers single handedly, and had driven for hours.

Alicia immediately looked up at the others in her group. “Help me get her to bed,” she ordered.

The silence that had hung over the boat suddenly erupted as everybody started shouting.

“We don’t even know her!”

“She scuffed up Abigail!”

“How do we even know she’s not as bad as those other men?!”

“We can’t just accept her onto the boat!”

“Who the hell is she?!”

“SHUT UP!” Alicia bellowed, cutting everybody else off. “Shut up,” she continued when she was sure no one would start shouting again. “She saved my life. More than once. And she just saved all of your lives. She hasn’t slept in over twenty-four hours. Now, the least you can do is let her sleep in a bed before kicking her off the damn boat she just defended to fend for herself again.”

Everybody stood and watched her silently after her outburst. She glared at each person in turn. They all cowed slightly under her gaze. Only her mother, Daniel, and Strand returned her gaze.

After a few moments, Nick stepped forward. He silently walked over and helped Alicia help Elyza stand and start to lead her into the room she and Ofelia were sharing.

“You look like hell,” Nick remarked as the maneuvered down the hallway.

Alicia looked down at herself and grimaced slightly. Her shirt was covered in dried blood from where it had rubbed off of the back of Elyza’s jacket. Elyza looked even worse. Her hair was matted with blood and her clothes were covered in the stuff and other bodily   
fluids.

“You don’t look so great yourself,” Alicia quipped back, taking in the disheveled appearance of her brother. He hadn’t been taking to sea very well and his constant withdrawal state wasn’t helping matters either.

He just shrugged slightly as they walked into the room. They gently sat her down on the edge of the bed before Nick ran off to find towels to lay down under Elyza so as not to get the bed dirty.

“Come on, Elyza,” Alicia said gently, helping unstrap the rifle off Elyza’s shoulders and setting it off to the side. “Let’s get you out of these clothes.”

“You could at least buy a girl dinner first,” Elyza said, a sleepy smirk adorning her face.

Alicia shook her head and smiled as she pulled off Elyza’s boots. “I’ll see what I can do,” she replied.

When she was done unstrapping Elyza’s thigh holsters, Nick came back in with the towles. He set the towels out on the bed as Alicia finished taking off Elyza’s leather jacket and weapons belt. She set everything on the chair next to the bed before laying Elyza down on the bed with Nick’s help.

“Way to woo a girl, cutie,” Elyza slurred. “I’ve still got most of my clothes on.”

Nick snorted as Alicia blushed slightly. She smacked his arm before shoving him out the door and turning back around. She quietly went over to the bed and checked to make sure Elyza was asleep before leaving the room and taking Elyza’s leather jacket with her. She was sure the other girl would love to find it all clean by the time she woke up from her well deserved and much needed rest.

Alicia steadily made her way back above deck, wanting to check to make sure Elyza’s motorcycle and duffle bag was being taken care of and knowing that there was a big discussion ahead of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No motorcycles were harmed in the making of this chapter. Also, don't try any stunts at home. They were all done by fake professionals. *insert any other funny warning labels here* I would also like to thank everybody for reading and leaving comments and kudos and all that stuff. It means a lot. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter, but I hope you guys like it. Thank you for all the kudos and comments. They mean a lot.

Alicia shouldered her way into the combined kitchen and eating area of the boat after moving Elyza’s motorcycle to a more out of the way part of the deck and taking Elyza’s duffle bag into the room where she was sleeping. She immediately turned toward the sink to clean off Elyza’s jacket, but was met with seven people sitting around the kitchen table, watching her.

“We need to talk,” her mother said.

Alicia sighed and walked over to the sink, her back to the table and the people surrounding it. She had known this would be coming, but that didn’t mean she had been looking forward to it.

“She can’t stay here,” Daniel said.

Murmurs of consent rippled around the table. Alicia scowled and slammed Elyza’s leather jacket to the counter. She spun around and leaned against the counter, crossing her arms.

“Why not?” she demanded.

“We don’t even know her,” her mother reasoned. “She could be dangerous.”

“Her name is Elyza Lex. She saved my life and all of your lives too,” Alicia pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous,” Travis said. “She has a machine gun.”

“Isn’t it an assault rifle?” Nick asked.

“Like you know anything about guns,” Alicia quipped.

“It can be called both, actually,” Chris cut in.

“Anyway,” Ofelia interrupted before the side discussion could escalate.

“So what are we going to do?” Alicia asked as if they hadn’t been interrupted. “Dump her and all her belongings into a rowboat and leave her to drift in the ocean?”

“We could use the weapons,” Daniel said.

“So now we’re dumping her in a rowboat with no way for her to defend herself,” Alicia said sarcastically.

“Now wait one second,” Travis interrupted. “We’re not dumping anyone in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean.”

“Then what are we supposed to do, Travis?” her mother demanded. “Keep her here?”

“For the time being,” Strand finally spoke.

Everybody turned to look at the owner of the boat. They waited for him to speak. Alicia didn’t really trust him, even if him and Nick had a weird friendship, but she hoped he’d let Elyza stay. His word was practically law on the boat after all.

“We have enough fuel and food to last us three days and that was without the extra mouth to feed which means we need to go back to shore soon,” he explained. “She also scuffed up Abigail, but she obviously knows how to fight. So she stays until the next supply run. If she can’t prove herself useful by then, she’s off the boat, minus a few of her weapons. If it turns out that she can be of some use and we find enough food, she can stay.”

With that, Strand stood up and walked out, probably heading to his bunk where he spent most of his time. The rest of the group quietly sat around the table, digesting the events of the day.

After a few moments, Madison turned toward Alicia. “Alicia,” she started.

“I’m going to go check on Elyza,” Alicia interrupted, grabbing the still dirty leather jacket off the counter and heading out the door. She ignored her mother as she closed the door behind her and made her way to the room she shared with Ofelia.

\-----

Alicia sat in the chair in her room and flipped through the binder full of floral sketches. Her phone sat on the table next to her, charging, while she listened to music. Elyza’s rifle sat next to the table, resting where Alicia had set it so she could sit down. She would have cleaned it as well, but she didn’t want to accidentally fire it and kill somebody. Alicia had been able to clean Elyza’s leather jacket though and it now rested around Alicia’s shoulders.

Every few pages, Alicia looked up to take in Elyza’s sleeping form. The soft rise and fall of her chest comforted Alicia. After the day they had had, Alicia didn’t put it past the world to make something else go horribly wrong.

Alicia’s gaze quickly slid to Elyza’s tattoos. The gear on the girl’s wrist was hidden from view, but Alicia could make out three others. A dark, tribal tattoo with lots of circles ran the length of Elyza’s left forearm, the black ink standing out against her pale skin. A faded blue tribal tattoo swirled on her right shoulder. Alicia thought they looked like sharp, thick waves. The last tattoo Alicia could see stood out against her clavicle. It showed an unfinished infinity sign.

Alicia studied each tattoo as best she could from where she was sitting, vowing to ask Elyza about them when she got the chance. The tattoos fascinated her.

“This isn’t going to end well,” a voice quietly sounded from the doorway, breaking Alicia out of her reverie.

Alicia turned, already knowing who would be standing there. “When has anything ended well for us, Nick?” she asked, pulling her earbuds out of her ears.

Nick shrugged before walking farther into the room. “Mom’s mad at you,” he said. “You really messed up.”

“Yeah. Well,” she responded, turning to look at Elyza again. “I won’t have to wait long for you to mess up even worse and save my ass.”

Nick grunted slightly as he glanced over to where Elyza’s duffle bag sat next to her other weapons and boots.

Alicia clenched her jaw and glared at him.

“There’s nothing in there,” she said threateningly. “So don’t even think about it.”

“Have you even looked?” Nick retorted, taking a cautious step toward the duffel bag.

“No,” Alicia answered. “I was stopped by the loaded guns and sharp knives.”

Nick’s look of greed quickly changed to one of trepidation. Alicia smiled in triumph.

“You forgot the giant Australian spiders,” Elyza suddenly mumbled. Nothing else about her position showed that she was awake.

Nick darted backwards, frightened. Alicia laughed as Elyza smiled slightly before turning over and falling back asleep.

“Are you sure we can trust her?” Nick asked from somewhere near the door.

Alicia continued to look at Elyza lying on the bed. At the way her shoulders moved with each breath and her hair fell on the bed. At how another tattoo peeked out from under her tank top. At how she was still mostly covered in blood from the day's activities. Alicia had never been more sure about anything in her life.

Alicia nodded resolutely. “One hundred percent.”

Nick gave no reply as he left the room.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the delay in posting. I meant to post this chapter yesterday, but we had a big power outage right as I got home and my sibling decided to kill my laptop. Hopefully the rain storms will be done by the next time I plan on posting.

Her dream started out with Bellamy’s undead corpse shuffling his way toward her. Just like that afternoon, she pulled out her gun and pointed it right between his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered right before she pulled the trigger.

Right as she pulled the trigger, Bellamy changed into the girl Elyza had been dreaming about since the age of nine. The bullet hit her in the abdomen just like always. Black blood started down the front of the girl’s shirt. Elyza dropped the gun with a clatter and rushed toward the girl, but there was nothing she could do to help.

Elyza slowly looked up from the girl’s wound expecting to just see the blurred features of the girl just like always. Instead, Alicia looked back at her. Elyza stared in shock at the brunette before looking down and seeing her hands now covered in Alicia’s red blood. Her flannel was stained nearly beyond recognition as blood continued to pour from Alicia’s abdomen.

Before Elyza could do anything, Alicia collapsed in her arms, dead. Elyza fell to the ground, cradling Alicia in her lap. She frantically searched for a way to reverse what had just happened, but to no avail.

“No,” she murmured, her hand running over Alicia’s body restlessly. “No, no, no, no, no.”

Suddenly, Alicia’s eyes snapped open and she snarled. Before Elyza could react, Alicia’s undead fingers clawed at her throat and knocked her over, pinning her to the ground. Elyza frantically scrabbled against the dead girl’s outstretched arms and gnashing teeth, but she couldn't keep her at bay. Alicia leaned forward and sank her teeth into Elyza’s neck, tearing a large chunk away.

Elyza woke with a guttural scream; half anger and determination, half sadness and fear. She grabbed for the knife she always kept beneath her pillow and swung it in front of her as she sat up.

“Elyza?” a startled voice asked to her left.

She rapidly blinked a few times, clearing her vision of Alicia’s undead face. She quickly realized she wasn’t holding a knife in her outstretched hand. She lowered her hands and turned her head as the other person spoke again.

“Elyza?” Alicia asked tentatively, concern in her eyes.

Elyza took a breath, her heart rate and breathing already slowing as she recognized the girl beside her.

Before she could think, she was out of the bed and inspecting Alicia. Her eyes scanned every inch of the girl she could and her hands lightly skimmed across her skin, making sure she didn’t have any scratches, bites, or bullet wounds.

“Elyza?” Alicia asked again, worry coloring her tone. “What’s going on?”

Elyza finished her inspection of Alicia before answering. “You’re not hurt.”

“Of course not,” Alicia assured, leading her back to the bed and sitting her down. “You did an admirable job of protecting me. What’s wrong?”

Elyza didn’t answer, just stared at the floor. She shook slightly. Alicia had been a walker. She hadn’t been able to save her. She couldn’t let that happen. Ever. She would protect Alicia with her dying breath if she had to.

She was also confused. She had dreamt about the faceless girl who got shot every night since she had obtained a concussion when she was nine years old. The dream hadn’t always been about the girl getting shot, but it had always been about her. She had never dreamed about anything or anyone else until that moment.

“Did you have a nightmare?” Alicia asked kindly, breaking the silence that had been stretching between them.

Elyza hesitated slightly before nodding.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Alicia asked.

“Not really. No,” Elyza answered. She quickly got up and walked over to where her rifle sat propped up against the wall. She hoped that would be the end of the discussion. She had just had the worst nightmare of her life. She had killed her best friend, the love of her dream self’s life, and Alicia, all in the space of a few seconds of REM sleep. She definitely didn’t want to talk about it.

“Elyza,” Alicia started. “You just killed your best friend.”

“He was already dead,” Elyza snapped. She quickly sat down and started to disassemble her rifle, setting the pieces on the floor in front of her. She immediately regretted snapping. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, focusing on taking her rifle apart.

Alicia just sat for a moment and watched her from the bed before getting up and walking over to her duffle bag. She silently pulled Elyza’s cleaning kit out of her duffle bag and handed it to her.

Elyza took it with a nod of thanks as Alicia sat down on the floor next to her.

They quietly sat for a few minutes. Elyza started to relax as the smell of gun metal and the presence of the girl beside her washed over her.

“Strand says you can stay on the boat for now as long as you clean up the scuff mark you made when you landed. It’s up in the air whether you can stay after we come back though,” Alicia broke the silence.

Elyza nodded. “When’s my probationary period over?” she asked.

“Until the next supply run,” Alicia responded. “Three days.”

“That’s more than enough time to win everybody over,” Elyza said, smiling.

“And how are you going to do that?” Alicia asked.

Elyza looked up at her and smirked. “My natural wit and charm, of course,” she answered with a wink.

Alicia smiled and rolled her eyes. “Of course,” Alicia said sarcastically. “How could I forget your natural wit and charm? It is the thing getting and keeping me in your bed after all.”

Elyza just winked in response as she finished clicking the last piece of her assault rifle in place. She turned around and grabbed the case for it and started to put it away as Alicia got up and walked over to the duffle bag.

When Elyza was done putting her assault rifle away, she looked up to see Alicia holding one of her handguns.

“Woah,” she exclaimed, leaping up. “What are you doing?”

“Picking up your gun and moving to give it to you so you can clean it,” Alicia answered, turning slightly.

“Here,” Elyza said, reaching forward and taking the gun from her. “Let me take that before you shoot me.”

“It’s not even pointed at you,” Alicia pointed out.

“Yeah. Well, I’m the gayest person in here so it’s bound to find me somehow,” Elyza replied, walking away and sitting in her previous spot.

“The bullet isn’t going to suddenly curve through the air and hit you,” Alicia said exasperatedly, following her and sitting down.

“You’d be surprised,” Elyza said, nodding seriously. “Bullets have a personal vendetta against lesbians. So do explosions.”

“I’ll try to protect you from the explosions then,” Alicia promised. She motioned slightly to the clip Elyza was currently loading. “The bullets will probably be a bit harder.”

Elyza laughed as she locked the clip into the gun.

They quickly lapsed into comfortable silence as Elyza continued to clean her other three handguns. She smiled as Alicia settled against the bed with the sample tattoo binder.

\-----

“Alicia,” a voice sounded from the doorway just as Elyza finished reassembling her last handgun. “Your mom wants to talk to you.”

Elyza turned around slightly to take in the brunette girl standing in the doorway. Alicia huffed in annoyance and stood up from the floor. Elyza turned to look at her as she started to speak.

“There’s a bathroom down the hall from here,” Alicia told Elyza. “We have running water and towels and hygiene products. You should really go clean yourself up.”

Elyza looked down at herself and was surprised to find how much blood and brain fluid she had on herself. She slyly looked up at the other girl with a smirk.

“My offer still stands,” she said. “Want to come join me and save the planet?”

Alicia snorted. “The planet is already done for and you need the water even more now than the last time you asked. I’m not going to be the one to get between you and clean hair,” Alicia declined teasingly, walking out the door.

Elyza smiled at the empty doorway before standing up and offering her hand to the other girl still standing in the room.

“Lex,” she introduced. “Elyza Lex.”

“Ofelia,” the other girl responded with a smile, taking Elyza’s offered hand and shaking.

“So, Ofelia,” Elyza said, dropping the other girl’s hand. “Can you show me where this shower I so desperately need is?”

Ofelia nodded and walked out of the bedroom, Elyza close behind. She quickly led her down the hall and to the door all the way at the end.

“There should be towels in there,” Ofelia said, motioning toward the door. “Try to be sparse with the water. We have a limited supply.”

“Thanks, princess,” Elyza responded, opening the door and walking inside the small bathroom.

“She’s straight you know,” Ofelia told her with a smirk.

Elyza quirked an eyebrow and smirked right back. “Nobody straight wears that much flannel,” she replied.

Ofelia laughed as she closed the door without another word and started her shower.


	9. Chapter Nine

“You wanted to see me,” Alicia said, walking into her mother’s room without knocking and closing the door behind her. She quickly prepared herself for the conversation that was about to come.

“She’s dangerous, Alicia,” her mother spoke. “I don’t want you to be anywhere near her.”

“This boat is pretty small,” Alicia pointed out. “I can’t completely avoid her.”

“You can and you will,” Madison ordered. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

“I’ve been less likely to get hurt with her for the past twenty-four hours than I’ve ever been with a group of seven people in a month,” Alicia argued.

“That’s not what I meant,” Madison said.

Alicia rolled her eyes. “We’re just friends, Mom. I’m straight.”

“She certainly seems to be wanting a little bit more than ‘just friends’,” Madison said.

“That’s just Elyza,” Alicia argued. “She flirts with everybody.”

“Oh really?” Madison asked skeptically, folding her arms across her chest. “And you’ve seen her flirt with other people while you were out and about?”

Alicia scowled slightly at the insinuation that they had been enjoying an easy walk through the town.

“She did flirt with a walker right before she killed it once,” Alicia answered.

Madison stared at Alicia in disbelief for a second. “That’s not normal,” she finally said.

Alicia shrugged. “I mean, I guess it does kinda kill the mood for the first date,” Alicia joked.

Madison just shook her head. Alicia wished Elyza was there, knowing she would have found it funny.

“Just don’t go near her for the next three days,” Madison ordered. “Then she’ll be off the boat and we won’t have to deal with this anymore.”

“I wasn’t informed that that decision rested solely on your shoulders,” Alicia snapped.

“It’s not, but all she’s good for is killing,” Madison argued.

Alicia stared at her mother in disbelief. “You’d be surprised,” Alicia said, turning and starting to walk out.

“You don’t even know her,” her mother said, stopping her at the door.

Alicia’s hand clenched the door handle tightly. “She’s a tattoo artist,” Alicia began, continuing to look at the door. “She’s afraid of losing people. She’s very protective. She’s an expert motorcycle driver. She doesn’t kill or injure people if she can help it. She loves movies and television, especially science fiction. And that’s most everything I’ve learned about her just in the past twenty-four hours. Does that sound like somebody who’s good for nothing but killing?”

Alicia opened the door and went to look for Elyza before her mother could reply.

\-----

Alicia quickly found Elyza on the deck of the boat, scrubbing away at the skid mark her back tire had made when they fishtailed. She smiled as she approached. Elyza’s hair was damp from the shower and it soaked the back of her dark gray tank top. She had left most of weapons below decks, but Alicia could make out a gun sitting it is holster at her hip.

“Still carrying one of those around?” Alicia asked, pointing at the gun on Elyza’s hip.

Elyza sat up slightly and squinted up at her in the evening light. “Pays to be prepared.”

“We’re in the middle of the ocean,” Alicia pointed out, lowering herself onto the deck next to Elyza.

“We have a boat,” Elyza answered, turning back to what she had been doing before. “Stands to reason that other people would have a boat. Better safe than sorry.”

Alicia nodded silently in agreement as Elyza continued to scrape at the skid mark.

“Will you teach me now?” Alicia suddenly blurted out.

Elyza had brought up a good point about being prepared. Alicia didn’t want to be caught without a way to defend herself again. There was no better time like the present.

Elyza turned and looked at her for a second before clearing away the tools she had been using and sitting down in front of Alicia so she was facing her. She quickly unholstered her gun and held it out between them, pointed to the side.

“First rule,” Elyza started. “A rule you probably already know, but I’m going to tell you again; don’t point this at anybody. Unless you mean to cause them harm.

“Second rule. Keep your finger off the trigger unless you’re ready to pull it.

“Third rule. When I, or anybody, hands you a gun in a non life threatening situation, you clear the gun. Drop the clip first. Press this button,” Elyza explained, showing Alicia the button before pressing it and dropping the clip into her other hand. She set it off to the side as she continued talking. “Then clear the chamber.” She pulled back the top of the gun, a bullet flying out into the air. She quickly caught it and then put it into her pocket. “If I hand you a gun in the middle of a life threatening situation, don’t bother clearing the gun. I’ll be handing you a loaded gun and the only way to get rid of the bullets in that case is to bury them in the closest walker’s head. I’ll also usually hand it to you with the safety off, but always check to be sure.” She immediately showed Alicia the safety switch and showed her how to turn it on and off.

“You getting all this?” she asked when she was done. Alicia nodded slightly, pretty sure she had gotten it all. Elyza nodded appreciatively. “Good. I’ll show you all this on my other guns, but right now, we’re going to focus on this .9mm handgun. Get up.”

Alicia hurried to get up as Elyza stood, grabbing the full clip she had taken out of the gun and slipping it into her pocket. Elyza handed Alicia the gun the second she was on her feet.

Alicia took it from her, making sure she didn’t point it in Elyza’s direction. She hastily made sure her finger wasn’t on the trigger before attempting to clear the gun.

After she had dropped the clip that wasn’t actually there, she started to try and pull back the top of the gun to clear the chamber just like Elyza had shown her. She didn’t get it very far before it snapped back into place. She immediately tried again with the same result.

“This is hard,” she complained, looking up at Elyza.

“That’s what she said,” Elyza joked.

Alicia dropped the gun slightly and glared at Elyza. “What are you? Four?” she asked. The blonde just chuckled before stepping forward and clearing the chamber.

“It’s going to take some practice to do that, but we can work on that later,” Elyza said, laughter still evident in her voice. She then pointed out across the water. “Aim for out there.”

Alicia immediately stood up straighter and pointed the gun out toward the water, taking a stance similar to the ones she had seen on television. She watched as Elyza walked around her for a second.

“Spread your legs,” Elyza suddenly ordered.

“W-what?” Alicia spluttered, swiveling her head to try and look at Elyza. She hadn’t expected to Elyza to flirt so blatantly now. She was too caught off guard to come up with one of her usual quips.

Elyza suddenly appeared in front of her. She grabbed the brunette's shoulders and kicked her feet wider apart.

“Spread your legs,” Elyza repeated with a smirk. “Shoulder width apart. It lowers your center of gravity and helps you keep your balance. The last thing you want is the recoil to knock you over and land you in the dirt while a group of walkers is bearing down on you.”

Alicia nodded as Elyza moved to stand beside her, studying her arms and legs.

“Bend your arms slightly,” Elyza corrected, reaching forward to fix what needed to be fixed. “You don’t want the recoil shattering your elbows. But hold your arms firmly. You don’t want the gun coming back and hitting you in the face either.”

Alicia nodded, reeling from the overload of information. She was sure they’d have to go over it a few more times before she fully got it. She was a fast learner, but not that fast.

Elyza quickly walked behind Alicia and reached around her to hold the gun over her hands. Alicia inhaled sharply at the feeling of Elyza’s body pressed against her own. Her heart hammered in her ears and she hoped Elyza couldn’t tell how fast it was beating.

“Make sure you hold the grip under the slide,” Elyza whispered in her ear, moving her hands so they were in the right place. “I’d like all your fingers to remain intact.” Alicia could hear the smirk in Elyza’s voice.

“So would I. I would hate to have to give up finger foods,” Alicia quipped, trying to get her heart rate under control.

Elyza immediately laughed.

“Are you guys going to come in and eat?” a voice suddenly said from the door leading below deck.

Alicia leapt away from Elyza and spun around to see Ofelia smirking at them. Alicia shook herself slightly. She couldn’t tell why she was feeling so flustered, seeing as how Ofelia had seen them flirting earlier that day.

Elyza smirked and took the gun away from Alicia, quickly loading it again and slipping it back in its holster.

“I think that was enough for one day,” Elyza remarked. “We can continue tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s eat.”

Alicia took a deep breath as Elyza turned and made her way below deck. Ofelia glanced at her with a knowing smile on her face before following. Alicia waited a beat to collect herself before following both of them.

Alicia shook her head as she made her way down the steps. Elyza was going to be the figurative death of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Word of warning. I have never had formal training with a gun, so any and all advice from Elyza in this chapter or any further chapters shouldn't be transferred into the real world. Something I'm sure all of you probably already knew, but I feel better saying it. Also, please be careful around guns. Another warning you probably already knew, but which I also feel better saying.
> 
> So, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I just figured out that I can write back to comments, so I'm hoping I can start doing that if I can control my anxiety. Unfortunately, my anxiety loves to kick my ass so I'm truly sorry if I sometimes don't reply right away or something. Just please know that your comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. They mean a lot. I hope you all are having a great day or night or morning or afternoon or whatever time of the day you are currently in whilst reading this. Peace.
> 
> (I honestly had no clue how to end that, so, yeah. Anyway. Hope y'all are having a good time of day.)


	10. Chapter Ten

Elyza and Alicia made their way down the hall and into the kitchen area. It had been three days since they had all gotten back on the boat and, as predicted, they were running low on supplies. They needed to make another supply run and Madison had called an emergency meeting to talk about what to do next.

Elyza thought about the last few days as she and Alicia sat down around the table. She had quickly made friends with everybody on the boat, even Daniel, who, she had been told, didn’t trust or like anybody. Madison on the other hand, still refused to like her. She had continued to tell Alicia to stay away from Elyza, but the brunette had blatantly ignored her. The pair were now practically inseparable, much to Madison’s irritation.

Madison had even forced Elyza to sleep on the sofa in the main room with the boys even though both Alicia and Ofelia had insisted there was enough room for her in their shared bedroom. Elyza just shrugged it off. She had slept in worse places. It helped that she had ready access to the deck when she had a nightmare too. Unfortunately, they seemed to just be getting more frequent as time wore on.

Madison glared at Elyza as the rest of the of the group settled in around the table. Elyza ignored it and turned to Alicia to continue their discussion about who was the best Disney princess.

“Mulan wasn’t even a princess,” Alicia argued. “She married a war general.”

“Okay,” Elyza conceded. “Then what about Jasmine?”

Alicia shook her head and smiled. “We’re talking about best, not best looking,” she said, referring to a discussion they had had with Chris the day before.

“Then I don’t want to hear you mention Sleeping Beauty,” Elyza teased.

Alicia shook her head. “Hell no,” she agreed. “Aurora was a real beauty, but she wasn’t the best of the bunch.”

Before Elyza could respond, the last person came in and Madison cleared her throat to start the meeting. Everybody looked up at her except Strand who continued to scowl at the table. He wanted to be there less than everybody else.

“We need to go on another supply run,” Madison said without preamble. “We only have about a day of supplies left.”

“Where would we go?” Travis asked. “We’ve picked through all the houses along the beach. There’s nothing left to take.”

“We haven’t tried any of the stores yet,” Daniel suggested.

“There won’t be much of anything of use in those stores. None of them are food stores or anything,” Elyza said, shaking her head. She made a split second decision and spoke again before she could second guess herself. “I have food stashed away someplace safe. I can go in and get some of it and bring it back.”

“No,” Madison immediately argued.

“Why not?” Ofelia asked. “It seems like the safest option. She says it’s safe and she knows where it is. She’s in and out and we’re set for a while.”

“She’s not going alone,” Madison answered. “We don’t know if she’ll come back or not.”

“Elyza’s sitting right here, you know,” Alicia growled, at the same time Chris snorted.

“Alicia’s here,” Chris whispered as Alicia spoke so only Ofelia and Elyza could hear him. “Of course she’ll come back.”

Ofelia tried not to laugh as Elyza blushed slightly. Madison and Alicia glared at each other across the table, oblivious to the exchange that had just gone on between the three sitting next of them.

“Look,” Elyza said, quickly hiding her blush and turning to look at Madison. “You want to get rid of me. So what’s to stop you from dumping me the second you know where my stash is? I’m going alone, or not at all.”

Everybody sat in silence for a few minutes as they all digested what she had said. Nick and Chris started to fidget as the silence wore on. Elyza and Madison just glared at each other across the table. Strand continued to glare at the table as everybody else looked between the two blondes.

“I’ll go with her,” Alicia offered, finally breaking the growing silence. Madison immediately started to shake her head and open her mouth to speak, but Alicia cure her off. “I already know where the stash is,” she argued. “You won’t leave Elyza if I'm with her and Elyza will bring me back because that’s what I want. I’m the only one on this boat that completely trusts and is trusted by both parties. We get our food and don’t starve. Elyza stays and keeps her stash a secret. Everybody wins.”

Everybody fell into silence again when Alicia was finished talking. It was broken much sooner than the other one.

“She’s got a point, Madison,” Travis said quietly.

“No,” Madison disagreed, shaking her head. “Somebody else.”

“Alicia’s the only one who can go,” Daniel said. “Elyza will only take Alicia and she volunteered. We need the food.”

“She’s only seventeen,” Madison responded.

“And she’s old enough to make her own decisions,” Strand spoke up, cutting off whatever Madison was going to say next. “Alicia and Elyza will go get food. Everybody else will search for other supplies and fuel for Abigail. We’ll reach the dock early tomorrow morning. If anybody has any complaints they can get off my ship then.”

Without another word, Strand stood up and walked out. Everybody sat in silence and watched him leave. They all sat, stuck in their own thoughts.

After a few minutes, Madison opened her mouth to continue the argument. Ofelia beat her to the punch.

“Who’s hungry?” she asked, getting up and walking over to the mostly bare cupboard to grab food for a meager dinner.

\-----

Elyza sat on the roof of the boat and looked up at the stars. They had been getting clearer in the sky since the apocalypse had started. Without light pollution or pollution in general being added to the air, the stars were clearer than ever.

Elyza quietly brought her cigarette up to her lips and inhaled. She held onto the smoke for a second before letting it out in a soft exhale. The smoke ring gently wafted through the air, circling the North Star.

A sudden noise to her right alerted her that someone was coming up to the roof. She turned slightly to see who it was before turning back to look at the stars.

“Hurry up, mate, before I smoke the last one,” she called out softly.

Nick hurriedly scrambled the last little way up the side before sitting down right next to her. Elyza smiled slightly as she put her cigarette between her lips so she could grab for the pack in her pocket. She quickly took it out and flipped the lid open, offering the carton to Nick.

He eagerly took the last one in the box before also taking the offered lighter.

“Thanks,” he said around the cigarette as he lighted it.

She nodded in reply before taking the lighter back and slipping it back into her pocket.

They sat for a while and smoked in silence. After Nick had gotten over the Australian spiders joke, the two had struck up a tentative, but unusual friendship. It wasn’t anything like the friendship between Elyza and the other Clark sibling but she found that she didn’t mind sitting on the roof and sharing a smoke with Nick every once in awhile.

“Keep her safe,” NIck said, suddenly breaking the silence.

Elyza nodded slightly even though she knew Nick wasn’t looking at her. “Of course.”

They immediately fell back into companionable silence as they finished their cigarettes.

When Elyza was done, she got up and flicked her cigarette butt into the ocean before brushing herself off. NIck didn’t look up from where he was looking.

“I’ll try and find some more smokes while we’re out tomorrow,” she told him. He nodded slightly and opened his mouth to speak, but Elyza cut him off before he could. “No drugs,” she said, starting to head off the roof. “You’re practically clean at this point and I don’t need another reason for your mother to be mad at me.”

“Don’t forget Alicia,” Nick called down the ladder at her.

Elyza smiled slightly as she kept her eyes trained on the ladder. “Never,” she responded.

Nick’s chuckle sounded through the night air as she headed back inside to try and get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a short filler chapter, but I'm hoping to make up for it next time I post. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Thank you for all the kudos and comments and stuff. It means a lot and makes my day every time I see them. Thank you.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Alicia woke to the muffled sound of a motorboat. She jumped out of bed and hurriedly threw her shoes and red flannel on over her green tank top before dashing up to the deck, expecting to find the boat under attack from other survivors.

Instead, she found Elyza and Chris lounging in a motorboat as Daniel docked it next to Abigail. Alicia could see that they had put something over the motor to muffle the sound slightly. Even with the precaution, Alicia worried that any nearby walkers could hear it. Elyza stood up and grinned as she approached.

“Good morning, princess,” Elyza greeted. “Look what we found while you were getting your beauty sleep which, but the way, definitely worked.”

Alicia smiled at the compliment. “You don’t look too bad yourself,” she said. She looked down at the motorboat again. “You found a motorboat.”

Elyza nodded. “Good luck too. I’ve always wanted to go motorboating,” Elyza said, blatantly looking down at Alicia’s chest with a smirk.

Chris suddenly spit his mouthful of water out all over the floor of the boat and started coughing. Daniel turned around in surprise and wordlessly slapped the kid on the back. Elyza laughed and Alicia smirked as Chris turned beet red from embarrassment.

“Well then. Congratulations on getting your wish,” Alicia said. “Maybe your wish will come true a second time one of these days.” Alicia winked before turning and sauntering away. She could hear Chris coughing and sputtering again.

Elyza caught up with her before she could go below decks. “I think you killed Chris,” she joked happily as they made their way down the stairs and into the kitchen area.

“He needs to live a little,” Alicia replied, shrugging. She grabbed the last jar of peanut butter off the shelf and grabbed a spoonful before handing it over to Elyza who did the same. “So when are we leaving?”

“I was waiting until you woke up,” Elyza answered. “It’s only a two hour ride there and back, factoring in time for stops, so it’s not exactly pressing we leave at first light. My bike is already down at the end of the docks. I’ve just got a few more things to get ready and then I’ll be ready to go. Grab your bat and meet me at the bike in fifteen minutes?”

Alicia nodded. Elyza smiled and snagged another spoonful of peanut butter before walking out.

Alicia quickly finished her spoonful of peanut butter and tossed the spoon in the sink as she walked out. She made her way down the hall and walked into her bedroom to grab her bat.

Ofelia looked up from where she was sitting on the bed surrounded by an arsenal of weapons. Alicia stopped dead in her tracks to take it all in. Handguns and revolvers and shotguns and assault rifles sat next to throwing knives and hunting knives and switchblades and machetes on the bed. She also noticed a sketchbook and photo album resting on the pillows.

“What is all this?” she asked, taking a step forward.

“Elyza,” Ofelia answered. “Said it would slow her down and she needed room in her duffle for supplies. She took just what she needed and left the rest here. Something about protection for us yanks.”

Alicia laughed slightly as she grabbed her backpack off the floor and dumped its contents onto a small, clear spot on the bed. She had known Elyza was well armed, but she hadn’t known it was heavily-armed-enough-to-take-out-the-White-House armed. She carefully set the sample binder of tattoos next to the sketchbook and photo album on the pillows.

“I didn’t know Elyza drew,” Alicia said absentmindedly as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her baseball bat.

Ofelia shrugged. “There’s a lot of things we don’t know about her,” she stated.

Alicia nodded slightly. She wished the statement wasn’t true. She wanted to learn everything she could about the girl that had literally fallen into her life. The thought scared her slightly. She hadn’t felt that way about anybody since Matt. If she was being completely honest, she didn’t think she had felt the same exact way with Matt either. Elyza was special.

“Be safe,” Alicia said, shaking away her thoughts and walking out the door.

“You too,” Ofelia called after her.

Alicia nodded absentmindedly as she made her way out and onto the dock. She silently walked over to Elyza’s bike and leaned against it to wait for the blonde. She slipped her earbuds in and listened to the music filtering through them. She thanked the Lord for electricity on the boat as she glanced at the little 90% battery life icon at the top of her phone.

She was soon joined by her mother. She scowled and kept her earbuds in as the older woman stood beside her expectantly.

“Will you take those out?” her mother asked as Alicia continued to ignore her. Alicia’s thoughts immediately jumped back to the last time her mother had said that to her when the only things to worry about were Nick’s drug habits and getting out of her home town as fast as she possibly could.

“I can hear you,” Alicia shot back.

Her mother huffed and continued to stand beside her in silence. Alicia just stood and kept her earbuds in her ears. She caught sight of Elyza standing and talking to Daniel by the motorboat.

Her mother started talking after Alicia continued to not remove her earbuds.

“Be careful,” she warned.

“Elyza will be with me,” Alicia assured. She knew it would have the opposite affect on her mother, but Alicia had never felt safer than when she was with Elyza.

Her mother clenched her jaw slightly. Alicia kept her eyes trained on Elyza as she finished talking with Daniel and started walking toward them.

Alicia could see that she was prepped for the day ahead. She wore a black tank top under her leather jacket with black skinny jeans and her black combat boots. Her machete was strapped to her back and a hunting knife hung by her thigh. A handgun was strapped to each hip and a knife was strapped behind them. Her war paint was back on. The paint was darker than Alicia had ever seen as it framed her piercing blue eyes and cut down her cheeks in three dark lines.

Elyza swaggered over to the two of them with a shotgun propped against her shoulder. She gave a stiff nod to Madison before holstering the shotgun in a homemade holster on her motorcycle. Madison just narrowed her eyes.

“You ready to go, cutie?” Elyza asked, turning to look at Alicia.

“Please,” Alicia said, ignoring her mother as they both mounted the bike. She wanted to get out of her mother’s smothering presence as quickly as possible. Anything to escape the constant hovering and warnings against the blonde. She wrapped her arms around Elyza’s stomach as the bike purred to life.

“I’ll get her back safely, Mrs. Clark,” Elyza assured, looking over at Alicia’s mother. “I promise.”

“You’d better,” Madison practically growled.

Elyza nodded slightly before gunning the engine and tearing off down the river canal. Alicia laughed slightly as the wind whipped past them.

“Want to open her up a bit?” Elyza asked over her shoulder.

Alicia nodded enthusiastically and watched the speedometer creep up to 110 miles per hour.

“Woohoo!” Alicia whooped. She knew they would be long gone by the time anybody showed up to investigate the noise. Elyza grinned at the sound.

Alicia threw caution to the wind and leaned forward to kiss Elyza on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Elyza blushed fiercely and nodded in response. Alicia grinned and settled in for the rest of the ride. The rushing wind made it too difficult to speak.

\-----

They quickly chewed up the miles and got back to the city in half the time they had three days before. Elyza immediately slowed as they exited the canal and started weaving through the streets of L.A. Alicia looked around at the semi familiar streets of her hometown. She had spent most of her time in the area around where she had lived, but she had spent enough time out of it to recognize some of the other places in Los Angeles. The sight of them comforted her slightly. The boat was great, but being cramped in a space with eight other people all the time was exhausting.

“How much food do you have stashed away?” Alicia asked, her thoughts changing track as they passed by a SaveMart.

Elyza shrugged slightly. “Six months probably,” she replied. “As you saw, my flat isn’t exactly the biggest place.”

“Where did you put it all?” Alicia asked, scanning her memory of Elyza’s apartment to see where she would stash six months of food.

“The cupboards,” Elyza replied with a smirk. “Had about four months stored up in the beginning. The second I figured out what was going on, I threw all my dishes out and went out and grabbed another two months worth of food.”

“Smart,” Alicia said.

Elyza smirked. “I have my moments.”

“They’re few and far between,” Alicia teased as they pulled up in front of Elyza’s apartment complex. “But they’re there.”

“Hey,” Elyza exclaimed indignantly, swinging off the bike and grabbing her shotgun with a grin.

Alicia grinned too as she grabbed her baseball bat. Elyza grabbed her empty duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder before they started toward the front door.

She and Elyza silently scanned the area as they made their way into the building and across the lobby. As soon as they reached the stairwell, Elyza put her shotgun in her duffle bag and pulled out a flashlight. Alicia waited as she quietly ran the flashlight over the stairwell, checking for walkers.

“All clear,” she whispered as she put her flashlight away and pulled out her machete. She held the door to the stairwell open a little more and made a sweeping gesture with her other hand. “After you, princess.”

“Going to stare at my ass on the way up?” Alicia whispered back as she walked past the blonde.

Elyza just looked down and smirked in response. Alicia smirked back before starting to ascend the stairs. Elyza quietly closed the door behind them and forewent the flashlight as they made their way up. Alicia was grateful that she had walked up the stairs before. If she hadn’t, she surely would have tripped and fallen in the darkness of the stairwell.

They quickly reached the third floor landing. Alicia stopped to let Elyza pass. She gripped her baseball bat tighter as Elyza crouched down slightly and silently pushed the door open to check if the coast was clear.

After a few moments, Elyza nodded and slowly pushed the door open wide enough for them to walk into the hallway. Alicia waited as Elyza quietly shut the door behind them. The second she was done. Elyza motioned for her to be quiet and pulled out her hunting knife, starting to make her way down the hallway. Alicia followed closely behind, gripping her bat in a death grip.

Before they made it halfway down the hall, the muffled sound of explosions and a robotic voice reached their ears. Elyza froze at the sound, causing Alicia to nearly run into her. Alicia tensed, ready for a fight, but was met with Elyza’s excited face as she spun around to look at her. Alicia warily looked at the mischievous glint in Elyza’s eye and the big grin spread across her face. She couldn’t decide which was worse. Facing walkers or finding out what had Elyza looking more gleeful than Alicia had ever seen her. With Elyza it could be anything from a cookie to an explosive.

Elyza held her finger up to her lips with a big grin before spinning around and silently beginning to walk toward apartment 307.

The door, or what was left of it, quickly came into view. Alicia froze as she caught sight of somebody sitting on the couch inside the apartment. She quietly stumbled forward as Elyza continued toward the apartment, seemingly unperturbed by the girl sitting on her couch in her living room. Alicia frowned slightly as she realized the girl was also watching what seemed to be ‘Iron Man’ on the television.

As soon as they crossed the threshold of the apartment, Elyza motioned for Alicia to stay where she was. She gripped her bat tighter, ready to spring into action if she needed to, as she watched Elyza creep toward the other girl on the couch.

When Elyza reached the couch, she stood on the balls of her feet for a second, exhaling silently. Before Alicia could fully register what was going to happen, Elyza leapt forward and pressed her knife to the girl’s throat.

“You lose,” Elyza announced.

“Did I?” the girl asked in an accent identical to Elyza’s.

Alicia suddenly caught sight of the knife at Elyza’s throat and jumped forward to help. Elyza’s laughter stopped her in her tracks.

Elyze laughed quietly enough not to alert any walkers in the area as she stood up and sheathed both her machete and hunting knife. She turned slightly and beckoned Alicia toward the couch before walking around it herself and settling down next to the other girl.

Alicia made her way over and leaned her bat against the coffee table before settling onto the couch on the other side of Elyza. She could feel the other girl’s eyes on her as she sat down.

“Who’s the hot one?” the girl asked when she was done sitting down. Elyza immediately punched her, grinning. The other girl winced slightly and rubbed her arm in mock pain. Alicia felt a twinge of jealousy in her stomach at the obvious history between the two.

“Meet Alicia Clark,” Elyza announced, motioning toward Alicia. “My best mate.” The other girl gave Elyza a funny look, but the blonde ignored it and continued with the introductions. She turned toward Alicia and motioned toward the girl. “Alicia Clark. Meet Lindsi Reyes, my best mate.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? How do you feel about the new character? Kind of unexpected. Or not. Not sure what you were expecting. As for alone time with Elyza and Alicia, that is coming. I promise. I decided to advance the small plot that's in my head first. I hope you guys enjoyed it.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is an abnormally large chapter for you all. Finals are here and I'm not sure if I'll have time to update on the 30th, so here's a longer chapter to make up for it. I hope you like it.

“Avro, Alicia Clark,” Lindsi greeted, leaning over Elyza to offer her hand for a shake. A sudden flash of the blonde that had been intermittently invading her thoughts crossed her mind. The blonde seemed to be drinking from a large opaque bottle. Alicia quickly shook the image away and took Lindsi’s hand as she kept talking. “Any best mate of Elyza’s is a best mate of mine.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Alicia returned.

“I hope you like Iron Man,” Lindsi said, releasing Alicia’s hand and settling back into the couch to finish watching the movie.

“I’ve never seen it,” Alicia confessed.

“Uh oh,” Elyza murmured loud enough for Alicia to hear. Alicia frowned slightly in confusion as Elyza quickly paused the movie.

She then jumped in surprise as Lindsi leapt up from the couch and started to pace in front of the television. Alicia took the opportunity to really get a good look at Lindsi.

The brunette Aussie wore a red bomber jacket over a loose fitting gray t shirt that seemed to be covered in grease stains. Her black cargo pants were stuffed full of different gadgets and parts of electronics. She wore the exact same combat boots as Elyza, but Alicia could see a peek of an ankle holster on Lindsi’s left ankle that Elyza didn’t have. Lindsi’s hair was pulled up in a ponytail and kept out of her face. Her intense brown eyes were framed by black war paint like Elyza’s. Instead of paint crossing her face with three slashes crossing her cheeks though, Lindsi’s started below her eyes and expanded back across her temples and into her hairline. A knife was strapped to each of her thighs and a handgun was holstered at her right hip. A row of what seemed like grenades hung along her belt on her left side. Alicia really hoped she knew what she was doing with those.

Alicia quickly tuned into what Lindsi was saying as she started talking.

“How could you have not seen Iron Man?” Lindsi asked. “Iron Man is, by far, the best superhero of all time. He’s a mechanical genius and cool under pressure and is a sarcastic piece of shite and has the coolest suit and toys and has the best collection of cars I’ve ever seen and he always gets the best girls. I mean, have you seen Pepper Potts?”

Lindsi continued to pace and talk animatedly, waving her hands in the air, as Elyza leaned over to whisper in Alicia’s ear.

“She’ll be talking for hours,” Elyza whispered. Alicia tried not to shiver at the feeling of Elyza’s lips so close. “I’ll give you the Sparknotes later.”

“There’s Sparknotes?” Alicia asked. She tried to smother her disappointment as Elyza pulled away and settled back into the couch.

“We had a whole website dedicated to the Sparknotes of the geeky lectures of Lindsi Reyes,” Elyza answered. “Aden even made it into a book.”

“Aden?” Alicia asked curiously. She hadn’t heard of anybody in Elyza’s life. The blonde had been very tight lipped about anything of the sort after they had had the argument about Bellamy the first day on the boat. Lindsi was the first person she had heard of and Alicia had a feeling that she wouldn’t have found out about the brunette for a while if they hadn’t walked in on her watching Iron Man.

Elyza’s smile immediately disappeared to be replaced by a look of surprise, as if she hadn’t meant to let that piece of information slip.

“He’s my little brother,” Elyza mumbled, pushing herself up and off the couch. She started to walk toward the kitchen, presumably to start packing. “Or he was,” Alicia faintly heard. “I don’t know.”

Alicia’s heart immediately ached for Elyza. She knew not knowing was torture. She had only experienced the feeling for a few hours while she and Elyza had searched for her family. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to not know for a month and to have no way to discover the truth.

Alicia vowed right then and there to help Elyza find the answers she wanted. She’d swim all the way to Australia if she had to. She paused slightly. She was surprised by how intense her feelings of conviction were. She barely knew Elyza and yet she was willing to go across the ocean for her.

Her thoughts quickly turned back to Aden and the feeling of determination settled even deeper in her stomach. She frowned in determination as she turned back to Lindsi. She immediately realized her mistake.

“And the color scheme on his suit is phenomenal,” Lindsi spoke passionately. “The addition of the hot rod red…”

Alicia quickly tuned her out and settled in for the long lecture about Iron Man.

\-----

“I knew you’d be really tired,” Elyza said, flopping down onto the couch next to Alicia. The brunette immediately jolted out of the half asleep daze she had fallen into in the past forty-five minutes of listening to Lindsi talk about Iron Man.

“What? Why?” Alicia asked groggily, still slightly asleep.

“Cause you’ve been running through my mind all day,” Elyza answered with a smirk.

Alicia snapped awake at the cheesy pick up line.

“If that’s the case,” Alicia quipped. “I’m surprised you aren’t more tired.”

Elyza raised her eyebrow slightly in surprise and mirth. “What can I say?” she said, shrugging nonchalantly. “I’m an incredible runner.”

“Don’t believe a word she says,” Lindsi suddenly interrupted. “She hates running.”

Alicia and Elyza looked up to look at her as she came to sit on the coffee table in front of the pair.

Elyza looked down at her bare wrist and pretended to be reading the time. She looked back up at Lindsi with an innocent expression. “You forgot JARVIS and Tony’s amazing car collection.”

“So you do pay attention,” Lindsi said in mock surprise.

“Of course I pay attention,” Elyza grumbled. “And you did forget JARVIS and the car collection.”

“Well, I was going to continue,” Lindsi explained accusingly. “But when I finished talking about my two favorite love birds, I looked up to see you two love birds not paying attention and about to have a pash, so I’ll save the rest for when you are more attentive.”

Alicia cocked her eyebrow at the unfamiliar slang and at them being called love birds. She liked Elyza, but not like that. At least she didn’t think so. Sometimes the line seemed a bit fuzzy. Elyza just blushed furiously.

“Well since you’re done with your little rant,” Elyza began, obviously changing the subject. “It’s probably best if we get going. I don’t want to give your mother another reason to be mad at me.” Elyza directed the last sentence at Alicia as she got up and headed to the kitchen.

“Is that what’s at the river?” Lindsi asked, standing up and following the blonde.

Alicia frowned as she got up and grabbed her bat, following the Aussies over to where they were standing next to the card table. Alicia could see her backpack lined up next to Elyza’s duffle bag and a matching red duffle on the table.

“How do you know about the river?” Alicia asked guardedly. She had learned not to trust people who knew more about her and her whereabouts than what she had revealed to them. Even before the apocalypse, that wasn’t really a good sign.

Lindsi shrugged slightly and pointed at the fridge. “Elyza’s note,” she stated simply.

Alicia followed Lindsi’s finger and looked at the fridge where Elyza’s note stood in stark contrast of the white exterior. Alicia frowned at the note, trying to remember if it had been there before they’d left three days before. She quickly realised it hadn’t.

“That’s what you risked your life and went back for when we left,” Alicia said, turning to look at Elyza.

Elyza’s gaze hardened at the slight accusatory tone of Alicia’s statement.

“Of course. Lindsi’s my family,” Elyza bit out. Her gaze immediately softened when she was done speaking, taking on a pleading look. “I can’t lose anymore of my family.”

Alicia studied the blonde in front of her, wondering what she meant. Her thoughts immediately flashed to Aden, except that Elyza had spoken of him in the present tense even if his fate was uncertain.

“Don’t worry, Lyza,” Lindsi teased, a hint of assurance and comfort coloring her tone. She reached in between Elyza and Alicia and grabbed the red duffle off the kitchen table and slung it over her shoulders. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

“No matter how hard I try,” Elyza teased, the tension leaving her shoulders as she grabbed her own duffle off the table.

“Nope,” Lindsi agreed with a shake of her head. “Now let’s get this hottie back to her family.”

Alicia blinked in surprise as Lindsi walked out the door. She watched the door for a second before turning back to see Elyza’s amused expression.

“Is she always like that?” Alicia asked, grabbing her backpack and slinging it onto her shoulders.

Elyza nodded with a smile. “If you think I’m bad,” Elyza replied. “She’s ten times worse.”

“This is going to be fun,” Alicia murmured, turning and starting to follow Lindsi out the door.

“Wait. Alicia,” Elyza called. Alicia stopped and turned to look at Elyza expectantly.

“You think they’ll let her on the boat?” Elyza asked worriedly. “Because I didn’t exactly get all that warm of a welcome and she’s all I have left and I can’t…”

“I won’t let them kick her off,” Alicia assured. She knew the importance of family. It seemed like that importance was increased ten fold when it came to Elyza.

Elyza nodded. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Alicia promised. “Now let’s go and get this hottie back to her family.”

Elyza groaned and started to push Alicia out the door. Alicia laughed and followed Elyza down the hall and toward the stairs.

“Why do I get the feeling that the walkers just became the least of my problems?” Elyza mumbled as she held the door to the stairwell open for her.

“Because you’re smart,” Alicia replied, walking past Elyza and down the stairwell.

\-----

“Do you know a place we can stash our bikes?” Elyza called over her shoulder about forty-five minutes later. “I don’t want to take up any space on the boat that isn’t absolutely necessary.”

Alicia immediately thought of that house Strand had brought them to before taking them to Abigail. She nodded slightly, making sure Elyza could feel the action, before starting to direct them to the right place.

After the trio had exited the apartment building, Lindsi had brought out her own motorcycle from where it had been hidden behind the building. After getting over the shock of seeing what looked like an Iron Man Transformer and finding out that Lindsi had built the whole thing herself, the girls had straddled their bikes and started to ride back to Alicia’s family.

They had thankfully not met any walkers or other survivors on the journey, and Alicia hoped it stayed that way as they pulled up in front of Strand’s house.

The second they pulled up in front of the gate, Lindsi hopped off her bike and strode over to the keypad that opened the gate.

Before Alicia could react, Lindsi pried off the casing of the keypad with her knife and started to hotwire it. After a few moments and a dramatic display of sparks that Alicia was sure was just showing off on Lindsi’s part, the gate to the house started to roll open.

“I could’ve just entered the code,” Alicia said exasperatedly as Lindsi walked back over and straddled her bike.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Lindsi countered before gunning the engine and shooting past the now open gate. Elyza chuckled and followed her at a slightly slower pace.

Lindsi found the garage within seconds and parked inside. Elyza quickly followed suit. Both Aussies immediately dismounted and grabbed their duffle bags and swung them over their shoulders in near perfect unison.

Alicia shook her head in disbelief at the synchronicity of the two as she got off the bike and grabbed her baseball bat. Elyza turned slightly and squinted at the sun that was just beginning to dip below the horizon.

“How close is the dock?” Elyza asked, turning to look at Alicia.

“Not far,” she replied, pointing. “It’s just over that hill. We’ll be there in about five minutes.”

Lindsi grinned and rubbed her hands together enthusiastically as they started to make their way toward the hill.

“Okay. Who’s ready to play ‘I Spy’?” Lindsi asked.

“Lindsi. We’re going to be there in five minutes,” Elyza pointed out exasperatedly, rolling her eyes as if they’d gone over it before.

“There’s a lot you can spy in five minutes,” Lindsi countered. “Like that rock. Or that graffiti. Or that grass. Or that-”

Both Lindsi and Elyza suddenly froze mid sentence, each unholstering one of their handguns in one swift movement. Alicia stumbled to a halt and turned slightly to take in the two girls who were coiled and ready to fight.

“Why did we-” Alicia started.

Elyza cut her off with a wave of her hand. Alicia scowled and opened her mouth to ask the question again. Before she could make a sound, Elyza’s hand covered her mouth. Alicia glared at the blonde standing in front of her.

She started to open her mouth to try and speak again, but froze as the faint sound of gunfire reached her ears.

“Assault rifles,” Lindsi whispered as Elyza removed her hand from Alicia’s mouth. “Shooters aren’t trained. They’re going to bring a horde of walkers. Did you leave any of your weapons with Alicia’s group?”

Elyza nodded in agreeance and as an answer as the trio started to creep toward the top of the hill, hunched over so they couldn’t be seen.

“Or the walkers are already here,” Alicia mumbled in fear as they got to the top and took in the scene below them.

Abigail floated by the dock, untethered, as everybody in their group hurried to get back to the boat. Daniel and Madison stood on the end of dock and shot into the horde of twenty walkers coming at them as Travis and Nick ran toward the boat.

“Shite,” Elyza breathed, holstering her gun and unsheathed her machete. “Lindsi. Divide and conquer. Alicia. Stay close behind me and swing at anything that comes close. The second you see an opening, make a break for the boat.”

Both girls nodded before they all sprang up and rushed down the hill. As soon as they came into view, Daniel and Madison stopped shooting into the crowd. Alicia gripped her bat even tighter as they got closer to the horde.

The second they reached the walkers, Elyza and Lindsi, who had also switched her gun for her machete, split up and dove into the fray.

Alicia stuck close to Elyza as she cut a path through the walkers. Lindsi cut her own path through on the other side of the dock. Alicia couldn’t help but be in awe at how easy the two girls made fighting look. It almost looked like they had been fighting walkers their whole lives.

After only a few seconds, a path to the boat suddenly cleared right in front of Alicia.

“Go!” Elyza shouted, sliding her machete into one of the walker’s heads.

Alicia hesitated slightly, not wanting to leave Elyza to fend for herself, even if she couldn’t actually help much. There was only so much her untrained self and a baseball bat could do next to a clearly trained, machete wielding badass. She quickly figured Elyza could hold her own as two walkers dropped with a flick of Elyza’s wrist. She gripped her bat even tighter as she started to dash toward the boat.

Before she could get very far, a walker lunged in front of her. Alicia swung her baseball bat with all her strength at his head. The bat connected with a loud, sickening crunch. The walker dropped like a stone and remained unmoving on the ground.

Alicia stopped and stared at the dead walker in disbelief. She had never killed a walker before. She tried to swallow down the slight guilt she was feeling and focus on the fact that she would be dead otherwise. It didn’t help the bile rising her throat as she stared into the walkers unseeing eyes. He had been someone’s family member once.

“Alicia!”

The shout wrenched her out of her reverie. She looked up to take in her mother leaning over the railing of Abigail screaming at her before spinning around.

A walker lunged at her, arms outstretched. Before she could raise her bat, a knife suddenly appeared out of the back of the walker’s head. Alicia stared at it in shock as it dropped to reveal Elyza charging towards her.

Before she could react, Elyza rushed at her and scooped her up into her arms and continued running toward the boat that was starting to pull away from the dock.

“Lindsi!” Elyza roared as they approached the dock.

Alicia watched over Elyza’s shoulder as Lindsi stabbed one last walker before dashing after them.

“Put me down,” Alicia demanded, getting over her initial shock. “I can run by myself.” She had been almost killed, not injured. Her legs were fine.

“No,” Elyza growled. Alicia stared at the fury that transformed Elyza’s usually grinning face into an unrecognizable mask. “I won’t lose you too.”

Alicia shut her mouth. She could tell it wasn’t the time.

Lindsi quickly caught up with them as they approached the end of the dock. As soon as the pair’s feet left the end of the dock, Alicia braced herself for impact.

They landed with a slight thump. In one swift motion, Elyza gently laid Alicia down on the deck before spinning up and starting to unload her clip into the walkers that remained on the dock. Alicia scrambled up as Elyza holstered her empty handgun and reached for the other.

“They’re too far away,” Lindsi suddenly stepped in, grabbing Elyza’s arm. “Don’t waste bullets.”

Elyza slowly lowered her gun and stared at the disappearing dock. Everybody remained silent, watching the blonde glare at the horizon. The anger and fury rolled off Elyza in waves, keeping everybody silent.

After a few minutes, Elyza suddenly spun around, pinning everybody down with her gaze, even looking up at the command cabin where Strand stood watching the proceedings on the deck.

“What the hell happened?” the blonde growled lowly.

Everybody turned slightly to look at Nick. He swallowed thickly as Elyza zeroed in on him. He stumbled back slightly as Elyza started to advance toward him.

“What did you do?!” Elyza shouted.

Nick scrambled backwards, trying to get away from the blonde’s wrath. Alicia took a slight step forward. She trusted Elyza, but the blonde looked about ready to tear her brother to shreds.

A hand around her wrist stopped her before she could get very far. She turned and saw Lindsi shaker her head.

“Let go of me,” Alicia growled lowly so as not to attract anyone else’s attention.

Lindsi shook her head again. “Elyza would kill me if I let her hurt you.”

“Elyza wouldn’t hurt me,” Alicia snapped.

“Buckley’s,” Lindsi agreed. She jutted her chin toward where Elyza towered over Nick, waiting for his explanation. “But she’s a hornet in a bottle and isn’t seeing straight right now.”

“Drugs!” Elyza suddenly shouted, breaking them out of their side conversation. Alicia’s stomach sank as she realized what must have happened.

“Oh shite,” Lindsi mumbled under her breath from next to Alicia.

“You fucking drongo!” Elyza yelled. “You damn deadhead yank! You put everybody in danger! Alicia nearly died! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

“I needed them,” Nick scrambled to explain. “I need to get high. No one was supposed to-”

A knife suddenly appeared in the railing next to his hand, silencing him. His eyes widened in fear as he looked down at where the knife quivered only centimeters from his palm. Everybody stood in silence, too stunned to move.

As quickly as the first knife had appeared, another one appeared in Elyza’s hand. Elyza held the knife out threateningly between her and Nick as she took a step close to the boy. Nick pressed himself even closer to the railing.

“Do you really want to finish that sentence, mate?” Elyza growled.

“Elyza,” Lindsi said sharply, her voice cutting through the silence and tension on deck like a knife.

Elyza immediately spun around, a dangerous glint in her eye.

Before she could turn around fully, Lindsi pulled back and lobbed something at the blonde’s face as hard as she could. Without seeming to think, Elyza caught it with one hand before it could hit her.

Lindsi immediately made a shooing gesture with her hand. “Get out of here. Don’t get off your bike. I’ll come get you later.”

Elyza hesitated for a second, looking like she was about to argue, before nodding stiffly and storming away. She quickly disappeared from sight.

Everybody stood in stunned silence, watching the spot where Elyza had disappeared. Nobody had seen anything like it. Elyza had been nothing but congenial to everybody since she had first gotten on the boat.

After a few moments, Madison suddenly spun around.

“She’s dangerous,” Madison spat. “She nearly killed NIck. We need her off this boat.”

“She saved Alicia’s life,” Lindsi countered, taking a slight step toward the blonde. “And as you can see, Nick isn’t dead.”

“Only because you stopped her,” Chris pointed out.

“Then I guess you’ll have to keep us both,” Lindsi said, smirking.

“No,” Madison argued immediately, shaking her head. “I don’t want to trained killers ready to go off at any moment near my children.”

Lindsi bristled and took another step toward Alicia’s mother. “One, we aren’t trained killers. Two, Elyza had a pretty good reason for going off. Three, if it wasn’t for us, you wouldn’t have children anymore,” she growled.

“If it wasn’t for Elyza,” Madison countered. “Then Alicia wouldn’t have even been out there and in danger.”

“And we would have starved,” Alicia stepped in, stepping forward to place herself between Lindsi and her mother. “You can stand here and continue to throw the blame around all you want, but the way I see it, Elyza has saved my ass more time than I can count. That’s more than I can say for pretty much everybody else on this ship. So keep her here or kick her off, but I go where she goes, so choose wisely.”

Alicia glared at her mother for a second before turning on her heel and starting to walk in the same direction as Elyza. Everybody on the deck immediately started talking. Alicia ignored it and continued walking across the deck.

Before she could get very far, a familiar hand wrapped around her wrist.

“Where are you going?” Lindsi asked.

“To go find Elyza,” Alicia explained, turning to look at Lindsi.

She scowled as Lindsi immediately shook her head.

“She’s only made it through one cig. Two at best,” Lindsi said. “Let her cool off a bit more and once the deck clears, I’ll talk to her and then you can talk to her.”

Alicia quickly opened her mouth to argue.

“She’ll want to see you,” Lindsi cut her off, her voice gentle. “But let her get over her embarrassment first.”

Lindsi smirked slightly. Alicia glared for a second more before nodding. The brunette had been around Elyza longer than she had and knew her better.

“Fine.”

“Ace,” Lindsi said, grinning. She quickly walked behind Alicia’s back and put her hand on Alicia’s shoulders, starting to push her back toward where everybody was standing on the deck. “So now that we have some time, why don’t you introduce me to your gorgeous friend over there.”

Alicia followed Lindsi’s line of sight and smirked when she saw Ofelia standing and talking to Daniel. She immediately started to lead the Aussie over to the two. Elyza had been right, Lindsi was ten times worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those of you who were thinking Raven when I introduced Lindsi, that is who I had in mind when I wrote that. I decided that since she was a more main character than Bellamy, I'd change her name similar to the way Elyza's and Alicia's are.
> 
> Also, for Lindsi's war paint, I was imagining Clarke's war paint from 3x03 when Skaikru became the 13th Clan and all that. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait. Things have been hectic lately and I had an unnaturally difficult time writing this chapter, but I think I finally wrote it to the best of my ability and I hope you guys enjoy it.

Elyza lifted her fourth cigarette up to her lips and stared out at the horizon. Her expression remained impassive as she ran over what had just happened.

Guilt gnawed at her stomach as she remembered the look of fear on Nick’s face as she had advanced on him. She had grown fond of him over the past three days. She hated how out of hand she had gotten. The guilt quickly got chased away by anger as Elyza remembered the walker bearing down on Alicia’s frozen form. As much as she liked Nick and didn’t want to hurt him, his decision had nearly cost her Alicia and that was unacceptable.

Anger and determination settled in her stomach as she stood up and flicked her cigarette butt into the ocean, pocketing the carton of cigarettes. She strode over to the ladder and slid down off the roof, landing with a light thud on the deck.

“Oi!” somebody shouted from behind her. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Elyza spun around to look at Lindsi. The brunette stood in the middle of the deck in her cargo pants, combat boots, and grey tank top. Her black raven tattoo stood out darkly against the tanned skin of her right bicep. Her hair was pulled back into its signature ponytail, looking as if she had recently showered. She leaned on a black staff that was a little bit taller than she was.

“To go find Nick,” Elyza answered, stepping toward the brunette.

“Not to apologize I take it,” Lindsi said with a smirk.

Elyza didn’t reply, knowing it was more a statement than a question. Lindsi knew her too well.

Lindsi’s smirk deepened as she tossed a black staff identical to her own at Elyza. The blonde deftly caught it and immediately started to shrug off her leather jacket, trying not to smile as she remembered every spar between them after every bad day.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Elyza asked, tossing her jacket on top of Lindsi’s on the deck before squaring off in front of the brunette.

“Oh. You know. I found my best mate after a month in hell,” Lindsi answered, lunging forward with her staff. A loud whack rang out as their staffs connected. Lindsi immediately spun away and started to circle. “Come to find out, she’s head over heels for this girl she just met and I can’t wait to take the mickey out of her.”

“You’re one to talk,” Elyza countered, darting forward and attacking. A swift flurry of cracks rang out as the pair quickly traded blows. As quickly as Elyza had attacked, she darted backwards to assess the situation. “Don’t think I didn’t see you talking up Ofelia the second you had the chance,” she teased.

“Mm. What can I say?” Lindsi said, a dreamy look on her face. “I couldn’t resist.”

Elyza laughed before lunging forward, bringing her staff around to hit Lindsi across the chest. Lindsi nimbly jumped back, dodging the blow. She immediately brought her own staff up and over in a counter attack.

The pair quickly fell into a natural rhythm, trading blows up and down the deck. Sweat started to to drip off of them as they concentrated on the fight.

Elyza’s thoughts started to wander as a question that had been nagging at her all day came back to her. After a few minutes, she couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“What happened to Octavia?” she blurted out.

Lindsi immediately back off and lowered her guard, hanging her head slightly in defeat. Elyza’s heart sank. She had known the answer the second she had walked through her flat door and hadn’t been engulfed in a massive hug. 

“You know how she was, Lyza,” Lindsi sighed, looking up at Elyza sadly. Elyza frowned, knowing the answer to her question but far from enjoying the answer. “Always throwing herself out there without thinking.” Lindsi paused for a moment, looking at Elyza pleadingly as if begging her to understand. “She got bit halfway through Arizona. We knew what was going to happen. She begged me to do it.” Lindsi sighed and hung her head again. Elyza flinched as she remembered shooting Bellamy right between the eyes. “I buried her somewhere in the middle of the desert. All I could think about was what I was going to tell Bellamy.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Elyza assured bitterly. Lindsi looked up at her questioningly, also already seeming to know the answer. Elyza looked out at the ocean, avoiding her gaze. “He was a walker by the time I found him,” she answered simply.

Elyza’s heart clenched painfully as the truth about her two best mate’s fates finally hit her. She thought about Bellamy’s easy laughter and brotherly love and Octavia’s fierce anger and loud humor. She quickly choked down the tears threatening to overwhelm her.

The two stood in silence for a while, stuck in their own thoughts.

After a few minutes, Elyza nudged Lindsi’s shoulder slightly and squared off in front of her again, knowing it was what they both needed, just like always.

Lindsi gave her a slight smile before a mask of concentration took its place and she lunged forward again.

\-----

“Dinner’s ready if you’re hungry,” a voice called out to them half an hour later.

Elyza quickly took advantage of the sudden distraction and leapt forward, using her staff to sweep Lindsi’s feet out from under her. Lindsi scowled as she landed with a thud on her back. Elyza smirked before helping Lindsi to her feet. The pair immediately turned to face Alicia as she stepped forward and offered them each a bottle of water.

“Thought you might like these,” Alicia offered.

“You have no idea,” Lindsi groaned in thanks as she snatched one of the bottles and downed half of it in one gulp.

Elyza chuckled as she took her own at a slower pace. She nodded her thanks to Alicia before uncapping the bottle and taking a hearty swig.

“So, cutie, you drew the short straw, huh?” Elyza teased when she was done drinking.

Alicia shook her head slightly. “More like I was the only one who cared enough and wasn’t afraid of being taken out by a hot Aussie with a stick.”

“A staff,” Lindsi immediately corrected, finishing her water bottle and tossing it onto her duffle that was still on deck. “Now, can you care enough about me instead of Elyza long enough to point me in the direction of the person who cares enough about me instead of Elyza?”

Alicia smirked and pointed over her shoulder. “Ofelia’s in our room.”

Lindsi grinned and quickly made her way below deck.

Elyza shook her head, smiling, as she watched her best mate walk away. “Ofelia better watch out,” Elyza warned. “I haven’t seen Lindsi want something this much or this fast since she realized San Diego Comic Con was that much closer now that we live in California.”

“Ofelia can hold her own,” Alicia assured, leaning back against the boat’s railing.

Elyza leaned back next to her and finished her water bottle. They stood in silence for a while, watching the night shrouded ocean.

“How’s Nick?” Elyza asked a few minutes later. She quietly fidgeted with the cap of her now empty water bottle.

Alicia’s expression darkened slightly, a scowl gracing her features. “He’s fine,” she replied. “A bit shaken up, but that’s to be expected. Especially after the stunt he pulled.”

“We’ve got enough problems without me pulling knives on our own people,” Elyza said, shaking her head.

Alicia shrugged slightly. “Maybe he needs a knife pulled on him every once in awhile. The walkers certainly don’t seem to be getting the point across,” she said. Her expression softened as she turned to look at Elyza. “Thank you for saving me.”

“Of course,” Elyza said. “Can’t have you falling to one of those wankers. You’re too pretty to die.”

“That means you can’t die either, Elyza,” Alicia said.

Elyza immediately sent her a cocky smirk and wink.

“Who’s Octavia?” Alicia blurted out, as if she couldn’t hold it in any longer. Elyza sobered immediately.

“One of my best mates,” Elyza replied, turning to look out at the ocean forlornly. She paused slightly before murmuring the next sentence. “The number of which seem to be dropping alarmingly the past few days.”

“Well, you’ve got me now,” Alicia said. Elyza turned to see Alicia smirking at her. “And according to you, I’m too pretty to die, so I’m not going anywhere.”

Elyza laughed, making Alicia smiled. “I guess we’re stuck with each other then.”

“I can think of worse people to be stuck with,” Alicia replied with a shrug, still smiling.

“Me too,” Elyza agreed.

A companionable silence fell between the pair. Elyza’s heart started to hammer against her ribcage as she studied the stunning brunette in front of her. The light of the setting sun made her hair shine brightly. Her eyes shone with a bewitching emotion that Elyza couldn’t place. Her lips were curled up into a small captivating smile. Elyza could feel herself gravitate toward her.

Suddenly, a voice rose up from below deck.

“Hurry up, slow pokes, before Chris and Lindsi eat all the food!”

Elyza grumbled slightly at the interruption as Alicia turned with a laugh and started to make her way below deck.

“If we’re not careful, those two are going to eat two weeks worth of food in two days,” Elyza warned, following her.

“At least then we’d get off this boat that much sooner,” Alicia pointed out.

“That’s true,” Elyza agreed, already looking forward to getting some alone time with Alicia.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Elyza jerked awake, the sound of Alicia’s dying screams ringing in her ears. She immediately sat up and rubbed her face, trying to scrub the images away. She sat with her head in her hands, wishing her nightmares would revert back to the usual betrayal and death of the faceless and nameless girl she’d been dreaming of for the past ten years. At least then she’d know what to expect.

After a few minutes, she swung her feet off the couch she was sleeping on and started to put her boots on. The second she was done lacing up her boots, she stood up and clipped her weapons belt on as she walked out onto the deck of the boat. Her gaze immediately fell on Lindsi standing by the railing at the end of the boat. She started to make her way across the deck toward her.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked, stopping to stand right beside Lindsi.

Lindsi shook her head, tightening her hold on her assault rifle slightly. “Too used to having to watch my back by myself to sleep,” she replied. She turned to look at Elyza slightly, concern etched across her features. “Nightmares?”

Elyza nodded, turning to look at Lindsi. “But not how you think.”

Lindsi raised her eyebrow in surprise. “No hot commander chick?”

Elyza shook her head in reply.

“At least you don’t have to watch her betray you or die in your arms for the millionth time,” Lindsi pointed out, voicing Elyza’s thoughts from earlier.

“That almost makes them worse,” Elyza disagreed. “It adds an extra unsettling feeling to the nightmares. I don’t know what’s going to happen in them.”

Lindsi nodded in understanding. “So who’re they about now?”

“Alicia,” Elyza replied. She immediately regretted the answer.

Lindsi’s demeanor changed immediately, a mischievous smirk appearing on her face.

“No,” Elyza said, her eyes wide and dread coloring her tone.

“Yes,” Lindsi said enthusiastically. She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “You know what this means.”

“No I do not, Lindsi. Enlighten me,” Elyza said sarcastically, knowing Lindsi would tell her any way.

“I see many a pash and bangaroo in your future, mate,” Lindsi said, nodding her head seriously.

Elyza shook her head with a laugh. “She’s straight.”

“No one straight wears that much flannel,” Lindsi whispered conspiratorially.

Elyza laughed even harder. “That’s what I said.”

“I taught you well,” Lindsi said gravely. She reached out and grabbed Elyza’s shoulder. “I’ll help you get the girl. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry about what?” a voice suddenly sounded from beside them.

“Nothing,” Elyza said quickly as she and Lindsi turned to find Alicia wrapped up in a blue blanket. “What are you doing up?” she asked before Lindsi could try to answer.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Alicia replied. “Seems to be happening a lot around here.”

Lindsi nodded enthusiastically. “We were just talking about that,” Lindsi said, ignoring the glare Elyza sent her way. “You see-”

Suddenly, a soft click reached Elyza’s ears. Both Aussies froze.

“Hit the deck!” Elyza shouted just as a shot rang out.

Elyza was faintly aware of Lindsi diving away from them with a grunt of pain as she threw herself onto Alicia, hitting the deck with a thump. She quickly crawled over to crouch behind the edge of the boat, dragging Alicia along with her and unholstering her handgun.

“Are you hurt?” Elyza demanded, turning slightly and running her gaze over Alicia’s hunched form, looking for any sign of injury.

“No,” Alicia responded. Relief instantly washed through Elyza at the word.

She turned again, faintly making out Lindsi’s crouched form across the boat from them.

“You hit?” she called softly, making sure their attackers wouldn’t hear them.

“Arm,” Lindsi grunted in reply. “Still functional.”

“Good,” Elyza said, burying her worry so they could focus on getting out. “Light.”

Without a second’s hesitation, Lindsi grabbed something from her belt and pulled a pin. She sat up slightly and tossed her homemade bomb into the air. A short burst of machine gun fire showered the area around her as she ducked back down.

Elyza watched as Lindsi counted down from three on her fingers.

The second she clenched her fist, she and Elyza leapt up, guns raised, as the bomb exploded in the air, lighting up the ocean around them like daylight and blinding their attackers so they couldn’t shoot at them. Only years of practice kept Elyza and Lindsi from the same fate. Elyza immediately caught sight of a large boat a little ways off. She quickly counted five people on the deck before she and Lindsi ducked down again.

“How did we miss that big of a boat?” Elyza hissed.

“Don’t know,” Lindsi said, shrugging. “But one things for sure.” She shot Elyza a meaningful look. “Extra laps on Saturday.”

Elyza laughed at the thought, remembering back to when things were simpler and fighting for their lives was just a training exercise. “I’ll still beat you.”

“We’ll see about that,” Lindsi countered. “You got a plan?”

Elyza nodded. “Motorboat’s on your side. Stay with it. I’ll go get the others. Cover me.”

Lindsi nodded affirmatively before rising up slightly in preparation to provide cover fire. Elyza turned to look at Alicia with concern in her eyes. Alicia just looked at her expectantly.

“You ready to move?” Elyza asked.

Alicia just nodded in response. Elyza wordlessly handed her her .9mm handgun, watching proudly as she checked the safety before holding it exactly how she had taught her. Alicia nodded to Elyza as she shrugged off the blanket that had managed to stay wrapped around her the entire time.

Elyza nodded to her before turning to Lindsi and raising her hand to start a countdown. The second she reached zero, Elyza and Alicia sprang up into a half crouch and started to dash towards the door that led below deck as Lindsi stood up and started to shoot at the other boat.

Elyza made sure to shield as much of Alicia as she could as bullets whizzed by them. She breathed a short sigh of relief as they ducked below deck without getting hit.

“What’s happening?” Chris demanded the second he saw them. Elyza could see Nick cowering behind him in their sleeping area.

“We’re under attack,” Elyza stated simply. She quickly unholstered her other handgun and handed it to Chris, knowing he knew the basics.

She opened her mouth to speak again, but was cut off by a high pitched scream coming from the other boat.

“Walkers!”

“Shite,” Elyza cursed. She grabbed Chris by the shoulders, forcing him to look at her. “Lindsi’s by the motorboat. The second everybody’s out there, we’re getting out of here like a possum up a gum tree. Got it?”

Chris nodded, a steely look of determination settling over his features. Elyza nodded once before gently shoving him toward the deck. When Nick didn’t look like he was moving, Elyza reached forward and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

“Don’t think I won’t leave you behind,” Elyza growled.

Nick gulped. The second Elyza let go of his shirt, he started to scramble after Chris.

“Would you really do that?” Alicia asked as they ran down the corridor toward their bunks.

Elyza shook her head. “Not if you didn’t want me to.”

They quickly turned a corner and nearly ran into Daniel, Ofelia, Madison, and Travis.

“Nick?” Madison demanded immediately.

“Chris?” Travis asked simultaneously.

“With Lindsi by the motorboat,” Elyza answered.

Madison scowled and started to take a step toward Elyza. Before she could get very far, an explosion rocked the boat, sending them all tumbling. Elyza grabbed Alicia’s hand as they both fell into the wall.

“We need to get out of here,” Daniel said, already making his way onto the deck, Ofelia following close behind. He cocked the shotgun he was holding right before walking out.

“Come on, Alicia,” Madison urged as she and Travis made their way past them.

“I’m staying with Elyza,” Alicia replied, squeezing her hand a little tighter. Madison opened her mouth to argue just as another explosion rocked the boat, sending them all into the walls again. “Now’s not the time to argue about this,” Alicia said fiercely. “Get to the motorboat. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Without another word, Alicia turned and started to run toward her bedroom, dragging Elyza along with her.

They burst into the room, trying to keep their balance as yet another explosion rocked the boat. They immediately started to grab their things. Elyza grabbed two loaded handguns from her duffle before slinging it over one shoulder. She slung Lindsi’s duffle onto her other shoulder and Alicia threw on her already packed back pack.

“We need to go find Strand,” Alicia said as they made their way out of the room.

Elyza immediately started to make her way toward the cockpit, knowing Strand always kept a constant vigil there at night.

Elyza and Alicia froze in their tracks the second they stepped inside the cockpit and looked out the window.

“Holy shit,” Alicia breathed. Elyza couldn’t help but agree with her.

The scene before them was lit up from the light of numerous fires on both boats. The other boat was partly underwater, water rushing in from the large hole in its hull. Elyza suddenly knew where the explosions had come from. Walkers crawled over every inch of the sinking boat. Ragged screams resonated across the water as the survivors from the other boat got eaten alive.

Elyza could see their small group of survivors huddled in the motorboat that was still tied to Abigail. Muzzle flashes lit up the air around them as they shot at the horde of walkers crawling all over the boat around them.

Elyza immediately turned to Strand. “We’ve got to go.”

“A captain stays with his ship,” Strand replied.

“This isn’t even your ship,” Alicia said exasperatedly.

“I’m not leaving Abigail!” Strand shouted.

Elyza grabbed Alicia’s hand as she started to argue again. Elyza could see that Strand wasn’t going to budge and they didn’t have the time to fight with him uselessly about it. Alicia turned to look at her in surprise as Elyza stepped forward, handing Strand her two handguns.

“Yu gonplei ste odon,” Elyza said before letting go of the guns.

Strand nodded in reply even though she knew he had no clue what she had said. She quickly spun around and grabbed Alicia’s hand, ignoring the astonished look the brunette sent her way.

“We need to go,” Elyza insisted, still holding Alicia’s hand as they ran through the ship toward the deck. She quickly pulled out a machete from her duffle just as they burst onto the deck.

“Let her loose!” She heard Lindsi shouting over the sound of gunfire, explosions, fire, screams, and walkers as she stabbed a walker in the head.

She kicked the walker away before stabbing another one as she and Alicia made their way toward where the motorboat now floated in the water, engine idling. Alicia wasted no time emptying the clip of her gun into the oncoming walker’s heads.

She ran out of bullets just as they reached the railing. Without a second’s hesitation, the two girls jumped, landing in the motorboat with a thud, causing it to rock slightly. Travis immediately gunned the engine, sending them speeding away from the walkers and wreckage of the two boats.

“Where’s Strand?” Elyza heard Nick ask as she hacked at the few walkers that managed to get a hold of the motorboat. Elyza could see Lindsi crouched and keeping her gun trained on the wreckage behind them even as her arm bled profusely through her shirt. Luckily, her bomber jacket was safe in her duffle. She was as attached and protective of her bomber jacket as Elyza was of her leather one.

“He didn’t want to come,” Alicia answered.

Everybody remained silent as Elyza disposed of the last walker before collapsing against the side of the boat. Alicia immediately moved to sit right beside her, pressing up against her. Elyza took a deep breath and looked back at the silent wreckage just as a loud gunshot rent the air.

Everybody tensed as the bullets from Strand’s two handguns rang out. Alicia reached for Elyza’s hand and held it in a death grip as the last shot rang out, leaving ringing silence in its wake.

Nobody spoke, stuck in their own thoughts, as they sped to shore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I'm sorry for Strand. I felt like he wouldn't leave Abigail even at the pain of death.
> 
> On a different note, unfortunately, I'm going to have to stop updating for a while. My life has been turned on its head in a not fun way and I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to access a computer is. Hopefully I'll be able to come back some time in August. In the meantime, I gave a friend another fic that I wrote and have completed and they'll be updating that when they get the chance to tide everybody over until I can get back. I'm sorry that this is happening, but I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise. In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Fear the Walking Dead and The 100 and Alycia Debnam-Carey, so I thought I'd give this a shot. I hope you guys liked it.


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